Voices in Dust
by DragonDavester
Summary: You know the saying don't judge a book by it's cover? Most people would say that they tend to avoid doing that to others. But most people also do it without realizing. Our views of people can be very easily obscured by simple things, so it's up to each one of us to clear the dust from our eyes and look at people from a different perspective...or else risk serious misunderstandings.
1. Chapter 1

_**Voices in Dust Chapter 1**_

Broken glass.

That's all it looked like as the illusion of a pink-and-brown haired girl shattered in the air. If someone that was not normally from this part of Vale were to come around the corner of the street and see this first thing, they would likely panic. Anyone familiar with this end of the city wouldn't bat an eye at the familiar sight, however. You see, as much as it may look like a normal person being broken as though a fragile sculpture, it was simply that. Or more accurately an illusion that when impacted would shatter LIKE a glass sculpture.

"Are you sure they have to break like that EVERY time, Neo?" A young man with wild, white hair and strikingly-blue eyes pondered aloud as he stretched his arms back-and-forth. He seemed undisturbed despite the remark about the image shattering, as shown by his relaxed stance.

"I've already told you before, Cobbie. Once they exist, I don't control how they react to external stimuli, only up to that point through various verbal and non-verbal means. I don't have them to the point where they can just hit back at things yet." The pink-and-brown haired girl replied, this being the Neo that the boy was referring to. Her relaxed posture while sitting atop an old set of cobble stairs in her white-and-pink jacket atop a blackish-brown corset, with pairs of brown leather gloves and dark jeans with a pair of white thigh-high boots to match spoke volumes about the ease of which the two held this conversation. "Besides, does it really matter that much to you?"

"Cobbie" shrugged slightly without even waiting to think on his own reply, "Meh. Not really. I've just always wondered and never really thought to ask until now." He reached across his black, waist length jacket and dark-blue shirt a few times as well as past the legs of his white jeans to his black shoes for one last stretch before switching to a boxer's stance. He then smirked as he turned to Neo for one last retort, "Also, I keep telling you about the Cobbie thing. It was cute when we were younger, but we're both practically adults at this point. Pretty soon we'll have to move out of the orphanage and find somewhere else to stay since we'll be too old for them to legally house us anymore, regardless of how accommodating the matron has been all these years. I've preferred Frost for at least 4 years now. Anyways, fire me up another round, _Neopolitan._ "

Neo sighed as she got up and walked over to about 15 feet in front of Frost with a smile on her face. "You were doing so well right up to the end of that speech, Cobalt. Maybe I'll make the girls run circles around you and make you dizzy, again? You remember how that went last time, right?" Neo's smile switched to a smirk as she spoke, her hands-on-hip posture as a sign of victory as she spoke.

Frost sighed in defeat as he hung his head for a moment, "Fine, point taken. I'm no good at dishing out what I can't fight back against. Don't remind me. Can we just get back to my practicing here? It's not like you really need to worry about your abilities developing that much anymore." Frost hopped in place as he finished his request, eager to spar some more against Neo's illusions, however that may be.

Neo's smirk returned to that of a gentle smile as she began to walk in a slow circle around Frost. From Frost's perspective, each time Neo walked behind him into his blind spot, she would reappear a moment later on his other side continuing her walk…just as another of her repeated the motion on the side she just came from. When these two would pass behind him, they would be on each side of him again… followed shortly after by one more Neo on each side a second later. Frost simply smirked as his hands began to glow slightly, as though in anticipation. By the time that the Neo's had made a few rotations around him, there were 12 Neo's surrounding him as they all stood in preparation for the "training". In the next moment, Frost's body jerked quickly towards the nearest 2 as he punched out each hand in sequence as though boxing the air. Anyone with keen eyes, however, would see a strong ripple travel through the air into each doppelganger, shattering a few moments later as the energy wave impacted their form. As soon as this happened, the remaining 10 moved as one into a large circle around him along the side of the street, making room along the large sidewalk to space themselves relatively evenly.

Frost slowly began to turn on the spot with his arms raised, prepared to counter any sudden movement. As he turned, the Neo's began to speak, finishing each other's sentences like a hive mind, "Well that was definitely faster than usual for you to start swinging around your Semblance. I thought you liked to chat a bit before we got into the target practice?"

Frost swung out a glowing fist towards the latest Neo to speak, replying as he went, "You're not the one who's still unsure exactly how his own power works. All I've been able to do is punch out bursts of energy and accidentally fry a television once or twice, remember? The reason why I'm not allowed to be around the TV anymore so that the younger kids actually have something to do on a quiet night like tonight?" Frost smiled casually as he turned to punch out 3 more illusions around him, leaving 6 that moved into a wider formation around him without closing the circle inwards.

"I know, I know. But does it really need to be more than that?" The Neo's asked as Frost continued to circle. "It's already obvious that it's not simply just bursts of air you throw around. It wouldn't fry a television if it was. I've already told you that being able to throw around forms of kinetic energy can be very useful."

"Not for fighting against Grimm it isn't." Frost replied as he removed one more illusion from the group. His expression became a more serious one as he began circling a little faster, his fists clenching tighter as he did so. "Grimm would just brush it off as a gust of wind, regardless, and just keep barreling on until they hurt someone. Whether it was you, or someone else, I couldn't forgive myself if someone were to get hurt because all I could do…" He punched out another illusion. "Was just…" Another. "Box with…" Two more. "ILLUSIONS!" As Frost swings around to throw one last punch, his fists glow more brightly for a moment before a very clear orb of rippling energy pulses out from his arm, shattering the illusions and carrying on down the street.

"Frost!" Neo exclaimed as a way to snap Frost out of his current mindset as she approached him from the steps, having never actually left them in the first place. Frost blinks his eyes a few times as he watches the orb travel down the street for a moment, then turns to Neo with a wide grin on his face, still staggering slightly from the punch. "What was that?! You could have hurt someone with that!"

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. But did you see what that was just now?!" Frost's face at the moment could be described as that of a child on Christmas, told that it was now time to open the finely-wrapped presents. "I finally managed to make it more tangible! I've been trying to do that for months, and I finally managed to form it into something visible and stronger! I could probably even hurt a Grimm with that, even a little bit!"

This remark does nothing to dissuade the stern look of disapproval on Neo's face as she reaches up from her shorter height to flick him on his nose. He reels back in surprise as his expression changes from one of excitement to one of confusion. "And what if someone were walking down the street behind the image? This part of Vale isn't THAT deserted that there aren't still people walking around at some point in the evening! Someone could have been hurt!" Neo turns away from Frost with her arms crossed against her chest with her chin up.

"Ok, ok. I messed up and went a bit overboard." Frost replied as he ran a hand through his hair sheepishly as he looked away slightly. He then smirked as he turned back to Neo, a slightly more confident look in his eyes. "But really, the cold shoulder? When have I ever NOT gone overboard in something?"

Neo's head hangs as she groans her disgust. "You KNOW I hate it when you start making jokes to try and change the subject, you know that?" Neo turns back to Frost, her arms still over her shoulders but her expression less stern and more exasperated at this point. She pinches the bridge of her nose with one hand as she takes a deep breath and sighs. "But 'cold shoulder'? That was the best you could come up with? It's already bad when one of us has a name that sounds like winter, but when it's being said to someone named like ice cream? You need new material."

Frost shrugged as he put his hands inside his jeans pockets, "Hey, I haven't had the chance to head into town much lately and catch up with anyone much. It's been kind of busy being turned away by most shopkeeps when you're trying to find work with no experience under you belt, chill."

Neo punched Frost lightly on the arm at his remark, "See, this is what I'm talking about." Neo turned to start walking back towards the nearby orphanage, with Frost following shortly behind. "You need to socialize with more people to at LEAST get better jokes than the same old ice o-"

 _ **BOOM**_

"What was that?!" Frost exclaimed as they both turned in the direction the loud sound came from. The two looked at each other for a moment before nodding and running in that same direction…the same direction that Frost's stray bolt of energy happened to fly in.

* * *

"Are we sure we're heading in the right direction, Neo?" Frost asked as the two continued to run down the street, the signs of smoke already visible in the air as they got closer and closer to the source.

"There were the sounds of an explosion in this direction, we both heard it, and we can both see the smoke." Neo retorted as the two started to slow down so as to catch their breath a bit before reaching their destination. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Would you believe it was an attempt to try and lighten the mood in the air rather than it being all smokey like this?" Frost attempted a smile as Neo just glared at him, the frustration in her eyes practically sharp enough to slice butter.

"Really? You choose now of all times to crack a new joke?" Neo shook her head in dismay as the two picked up their pace again, rapidly approaching what looked like a mixture between a large bonfire and an industrial warehouse. The two slow as they approach the last leg of distance between them and the building, both shell-shocked by the sheer magnitude at which the building is damaged. Neo gets over her shock first before grabbing Frost and dragging him closer to the building. "What could have even caused this much damage? And why to such an old building?"

"I dunno. Last I heard this place had been abandoned some time ago and hadn't been used since." Frost scratched his chin in thought as the two examined the wreckage from a safe distance. "Why would someone target this place rather than practically any other part of the city? And where could all of this fire have come from?"

"Something tells me it's Dust that's causing the fire." Neo replied as she looked over the building. "Look over there."

The direction that Neo gestures in shows the remains of a burnt crate lying outside the buildings debris. The labelling can clearly be seen as that of the Schnee Dust Company, as well as on a few more boxes within sight. As the two continue to ponder the reasons why such a large corporation's product was in such a remote part of town, a shout comes from amidst the burning building.

"Did you hear that?" Frost exclaimed as he started running for the wreckage with a look of realization on his face. "Someone's in trouble!"

Neo reaches for Frost as he runs ahead, yelling to him as the two start running again. "Frost, wait! We don't know what state the building is even in! It could collapse at any moment!"

Frost turns to Neo for a moment with a look of steel determination in his eyes. "It doesn't matter. Don't you get it?" Neo's confused expression tells him that she hasn't figured it out just yet. "The direction we ran to reach this place…the trajectory my shot went after it punched through the illusion…it all points here. I checked as we were running up." Frost turns back to the burning wreckage as he starts to climb over a couple of charred boxes to get inside. "This is my fault."

"You can't honestly believe that!" Neo exclaimed as she somersaulted over the box with ease and landed in front of Frost. "That little bit of energy couldn't have caused all of this! There's no way!" Neo's look of disbelief turns to one of fear as Frost's expression darkens.

"Are you sure of that?" Frost asked with an emotionless tone. "I didn't even throw a bolt of energy and I managed to destroy a TV on 2 separate occasions just by touching them and accidentally releasing my Semblance just by getting a bit overexcited." He turns and starts walking carefully towards the sound of the nearby shouting as he begins to lift away some rubble in his path. "Is it so hard to believe that I could cause this if I accidentally focused too much energy into an attack instead?"

Neo simply follows after him and begins to help move aside rubble in their efforts to reach the single trapped person in the building. "Even if you did…" Neo begins as Frost takes a moment to loom over the debris for a moment before looking to his side at her face. His cold expression is shattered by the sight of a few tears in her eyes. "…You can't hold yourself responsible for this, okay? It was an ACCIDENT. You couldn't have known this stuff was even here." Frost simply looks on in shock as Neo removes the last pieces of debris between them and the trapped voice carefully. She then turns towards him with a sad expression as a single tear falls from her eye and slides down her face to the rubble below. "So don't let it haunt you, okay? For me?"

Frost can only nod his head with a look of frozen shock on his face. The two then approach the pieces of rubble pinning down the source of the voice- a man with what looked like orange hair in the light of the fires, and a charred suit with a nearby cane sitting on the ground under a few shards of broken crates. The man looks at them as they begin to lift the debris away from his leg that was until then pinned amongst the wreckage.

"To be honest, kids. I don't care who blames who for any of this." The orange-haired man snaps as Frost helps him to his feet and Neo passes him his cane. He attempts to straighten out his suit before giving up on the state it's in before pushing past Neo towards the nearest opening in the wreckage to leave the building. "Doesn't matter if it's because of someone's talent, and accident, or just really bad luck. Because I now have to go and tell the others back where I work that we just lost a whole warehouse of Dust! Do you two have any idea how expensive this stuff is?!"

"A lot?" Frost asks as he shrugs his shoulders.

The man slams his unoccupied hand into his face as he groans. "Yes, kid. A lot. Now leave me alone so I can go to the doghouse in peace." As he turns to leave, he is suddenly chest-to-face with Neo, who though only comes up so high on his frame, has a look of a disapproving mother on her face.

"You do NOT get to talk to the people who just saved you like that, pal!" Neo said as she poked a finger into the man's chest. "I don't care who you think you are, you do not talk to my friend that way!" Her look of now-anger surprises the man for a moment before he collects himself and walks around Neo and exits the last remnants of the wreckage.

"Frankly, I don't care, little girl." The man sneered as he started walking away. "I'm not the one still standing inside a burning building anymore, now am I?"

Just as he finishes his statement, he man points his cane towards a remaining piece of the roof as a scope pops out from the hooked end near his hand. Before either can react, he fires a shot from the end of the cane that dislodges the portion of the roof he was aiming at as it begins a fall straight towards Neo.

"NO!" Frost exclaims as his legs glow a bright hue for a moment just before he leaps forward in an abnormally strong jump to try and get Neo safely out of harm's way. The man, in the meantime, has already walked off into a shadowy alley and disappeared from sight. Moments before the roofing impacts the two, Frost cradles Neo with his body as the debris falls around them.

* * *

"… _cough, cough_ …Ugh…my head…" Frost groans as he blinks consciousness back into his eyes. At first all he can see is hazy figures all around him, but as his vision clears, he makes out the shapes of flames of debris surrounding him and…some sort of object he's holding on to. As Frost looks down towards the object in question, his eyes widen in shock as he sees Neo, bruised and dirty but otherwise not looking too worse for wear. Unsure as to how long they were unconscious for, Frost starts to lean backwards to push away the rubble atop them, only to find the weight in question does not budge due to the way it is piled up. He tries a few more times before giving up in the efforts of saving his energy to instead attempt waking up Neo. "Neo…come on. You gotta…wake up." His attempts to shake her awake are filled with him coughing occasionally due to all of the smoke in the air and that they likely inhaled while buried.

Neo's eyelids start to shift for a moment before fluttering open a few times. She coughs a few times to clear her throat before gasping out a question. "What…happened?...Where are…we?" Neo attempts to sit up, but Frost politely puts a hand on her shoulder to keep her down for a moment.

"That guy shot at the roofing above you, remember?" Frost had a sad smile on his face as he regaled what happened in the last few moments they were conscious. "I would have gone after him, but the roof was going to fall right on top of you. I wasn't going to let that happen, so I just focused on how much I needed the strength to reach you before I jumped in the way of the rubble." Frost groaned a bit as the rubble above him shifted a bit on his bruised back. He then smirked as he took a shuddering breath. "Guess you were right about my power. I just needed the right reason to use it."

Neo gained a confused expression on her tired face, ruined slightly by the dust and her strong coughing. "What do you mean? What about your power?" Her last question came out at barely more than a whisper as she wheezed for breath.

"Saving someone important to me." Frost said solemnly as the rubble shifted again. "You and I have known each other for as long as we can both remember our days at the orphanage. You've been the closest thing to a family and a sister that I've had all of these years." Frost hugged her tight as a few tears escaped his eyes as the rubble continued to shift uncomfortably on his back. "I'm not letting you get hurt while I can help it. I just funneled the energy burst back on my own leg muscles to give me a temporary adrenaline boost to save you."

"Well then…thank you…Frost…" Neo sighed as she fell unconscious again in Frost's arms.

Frost looks at her face in shock as the rubble seems to lighten on top of him. "Neo?" Frost asks quietly as some light begins to shine through a few new gaps in the debris. "Neo?! Neo! Wake up!" Frost starts exclaiming as the rubble lifts away from Frost entirely. The next thing he knows, he's being hoisted up and pulled away from Neo before being placed in a stretcher. "Neo! NEO!" The last thing he sees before being hoisted into an ambulance as its doors close is the sight of a couple EMTs slowly lifting Neo onto another stretcher and moving her towards another ambulance nearby. Then all he sees is darkness as he too succumbs to his injuries and exhaustion and blacks out once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is my first official Author's Notes prior to a chapter since I wasn't quite sure how to do it with my last one. Been a while since I ever hosted an actual story anywhere given this being my first TRUE story project that I haven't gone into blind. Anyways, all ramblings aside, for those that have already followed this story or even favorited it, I thank you greatly for your support. To anyone new to this story or even returning readers, don't hesitate to leave your reviews as it helps me to adjust my errors as well as answer any questions people may have. Otherwise enjoy the story :)**

The gentle sound of a ticking clock was all that could be heard presently in the plain hospital room. That and the sound of a pen on paper as one of the room's occupants scratched out a note for the other. As Neo poured over the notepad the hospital had given her, Frost had his head resting on one hand as he leaned over one side of the chair he sat in, gazing towards the city that lay beyond the hospital walls.

A few moments later, Neo tore out a piece of paper from the notepad and threw it with precision at Frost's unguarded chest, only for him to simply jerk slightly as it bounced off and landed in his lap. Neo pouted as she looked around for something else to catch his attention, only to smirk slightly at the pen in her hand before throwing it across the room towards Frost's shoulder. This time however, Frost jerked a hand out and caught the pen mid-flight without even turning his head to see it coming. He then sighed as he turned to face Neo with a slight frown on his face.

"Neo, please stop that." Frost then looked away again as he continued to gaze upon the outdoors. He once again sighed a few moments later before reaching down to the wad of paper on his lap before glancing at Neo's expectant face and opening the paper to see what she wrote.

 _Stop looking out the window like that, you oaf._ Frost smirked slightly at the bluntness of the first line as he continued to read. _I know we've been here for a week now, but the doctors said they needed time to try and sort things out. You don't have to look so bored about it. Everything will be fine._ Frost's expression hardened after finishing the note however before he put the crumpled note next to a few others on the small table next to him.

"How can you be so positive about this after what happened a week ago?" Frost asked Neo as he struggled to keep his composure in the present setting. He clenched his hands into fists a few times to attempt to relax some of the nerves he was currently experiencing. "After what happened that day, you should be even more shaken up than me at the moment. How can you be so calm with all of this?"

Neo motioned with one finger as she began to start a new note on the paper before this time gently tearing out the paper and passing it into Frost's hand as he reached over for it. _I'm no concerned, because at this point it's happened. Nothing we can do can change what happened that night. I already asked you not to blame yourself for any of this, and the moment I look away that's immediately what you start to do. The only thing you are to blame for is saving my life and learning more about your own abilities. Is that so wrong?_

Frost took a deep breath before placing this note more gently next to the others as he pondered his next words, "…You tell me I'm not the one at fault. But you and I both know that we would have never needed to run to that building in the first place if I hadn't gotten carried away. We would never have needed to be here of all places if I hadn't made that choice to get that wrapped up in being some 'protector of the people'…" Neo begins to write out a note as Frost continues, "…and you wouldn't be in that bed, nursing a Dust-infection in your throat. Thankfully it's only preventing you from talking right now, so at least food isn't an issue. But honestly? I really wish we could go back, just so I could slap myself and say what an i-"

Frost's rant is immediately cut off as the entire notepad, sans one piece of paper, catches directly on the side of his head, stunning him into silence as his head jerks from the sudden impact. He rubs the spot a few times, wincing slightly, before looking over to a now stern-looking Neo as she hold up a lone piece of paper for him to read, the print easily large enough for him to read without having to take it from her. _YOU SAVED MY LIFE FROM A COLLAPSING ROOF. THE ONLY ASSHOLE TO BLAME FOR ANY OF OUR PRESENT SITUATION IS THAT DEVIL-MAN WE MET THAT SHOT THE ROOF HIMSELF. BLAME HIM. NOT YOURSELF._ Frost nods his head slightly as this is the most "verbal" Neo has been in the time they've spent at the hospital, or even since they first met at the orphanage. The room is then filled with a sudden silence as Frost is unable to form words at Neo's expression.

The next thing the two knew, the door handle began to turn as a doctor began to enter the room. The moment the door started opening, Neo immediately replaced the determined look on her face with a polite smile while Frost simply lifted his own jaw back to meet the top of his mouth.

"Ah, I see the two of you are doing as well as ever." Neo simply giggled slightly at the oblivious doctors words as he walked over to the charts currently sitting at the end of her bed. A few moments of checking some forms on his clipboard and rearranging a few things, he cleared his throat before looking at the two young folks. "Well it seems that aside from a few outlying things, the two of you are completely free to leave later this afternoon. We'll be back in a little bit with a few simple forms the two of you will need to sign, then we can see about taking the two of you back home." He stayed in the room a few moments longer in case either Neo or Frost had anything else to say before nodding his head a few times and closing the door as he left.

Frost scoffed lightly as soon as the door clicked shut, "'A few outlying things?' They could just outright say something like 'Your voice is gone!' or 'You healed your injuries surprisingly quickly for children with now professional training with Auras.' We're not 12." Frost lightened his expression slightly at Neo's pointed stare in his direction. "I'm just saying…"

Neo shook her head slightly as she lifted the bed covers off of herself before grabbing a stack of her clothes on the opposite table and walking over to the adjoining washroom to change for the day after penning one last quick note. Frost walked over to the table to see what Neo wrote, slapping his forehead a moment later before turning towards the bathroom door yelling, "Neo!"

 _At least he didn't say I was pregnant ;-)_

* * *

The two slowly walked side by side as they continued their final approach to the orphanage, Neo walking with the usual pop in her step while Frost ambled a bit behind with both arms crossed behind his head casually. They never ran into any issue on the way, simply greeting a few passersby as they got closer to their destination. A little while later, the two came to a stop in front of a plain two story building, taking a moment before stepping forward and pushing open the doors to their home. They were immediately greeted by an older woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties as she gave them both a tight hug before stepping back to address the two of them.

"It's so good to see the two of you again. I heard about everything from the fire department after they sorted everything out the other night once they found out where the two of you were from. I feel so bad for the two of you for having to run into such a despicable situation like that." The old woman's caring expression never ceased to falter as she pushed the two of them into the nearby dining room to get them some food, despite it being well into the afternoon with the other children currently playing outside in the sunny weather.

She left the two for a few minutes before coming back in with a couple hot bowls of soup and some bread for the two to share. As the two began to enjoy the pleasantries of non-hospital food, she patted the front of her dress slightly before sitting down at a chair that overlooked the two, clearing her throat slightly after giving them some time to settle in. The two took that as an age-old sign that she had something important to say, and thus lowered their spoons to the table as they looked over to see her with tears beginning to form in her eyes. Frost immediately moved to get up and move over to her, but one gesture of her hand was enough to tell him to stay put as she took a moment to compose herself.

After a few tense moments where the matron of the orphanage gained control of herself, she took a deep breath before speaking, "The two of you have done so much in the time you've spent here. I've seen you grow into fine, young adults that I was positive would one day do something great with themselves." Frost and Neo relaxed slightly as she continued, assured that this was just her coping with the situation the two had just narrowly avoided. "And that's why it hurts so much for me to tell you two this. I can't keep the two of you here anymore."

Frost's chair jerks backwards as he stands suddenly, both hands resting palm-down on the table as Neo raised a hand to her mouth in a silent gasp. The old woman shook slightly as the tears started anew in her eyes. "I have loved the two of you like my own children over the years. And I knew one day that this moment would likely come along; I just never dreamed it would be like this." She then motioned for the two of them to follow her as she got up to go look out the window at the children obliviously playing outside. "But after recent events, I can't risk the safety of the rest of the children anymore. When it was just something like a disappearing vase or an accidentally singed television, it was easily replaceable based on our funding." Frost and Neo both notice that as she goes on, her voice hardens in tone and seems to lose the shaky quiver it previously had. "But an exploding building? Mock fights in the streets? I can't have the other children exposed to those sorts of things so young in their lives after how much hardship so many of them have been through."

Frost and Neo both moved back slightly as she whirled to face the two of them, the determination of a mother bear present in every way. "The two of you aren't safe around these kids anymore, and I know how much the two of you love playing with them and teaching them things about being older, but I refuse to let them lose their childhoods so soon." Frost moves forward to say something, but is cutoff as Neo reaches a hand out to his arm, gently motioning for him to stop. "I expect the two of you to have your things packed and gone within the next few days while we try and sort out a new place for the two of you to stay until you can find jobs to afford living on your own."

"That's not fair!" Frost interjects as he steps around Neo's arm and stands face-to-face with the woman. "Anything that happened that night was because of me! I caused the explosions and the injuries to myself and Neo! I'll leave like you're asking, but don't kick Neo out for something she didn't do!"

"If you're to blame for the explosions, then whose fault was it for the so-called 'sparring matches' the two of you kept having every week as you got older? Hmm?" One eyebrow rose as she spoke, her inquisitive question laying bare a root flaw in Frost's last ditch attempt. "I don't remember one time where Neo didn't agree to your little scuffle before joining in with her _doppelgangers_ and having mock fistfights with you in the middle of the night! Both of you are at fault for your wild tendencies, and I will have none of it in this home any longer!"

Frost stepped forward to challenge the matron again, only to be bodily blocked by Neo as she materialized between the two of them in the blink of an eye before bowing slightly to the older woman with a sad smile on her face before turning and leading Frost up the stairs to their old room.

* * *

Frost sighed as he finished loading his clothes and possessions into his single white duffel bag, while Neo sat comfortably atop her own appropriately coloured suitcase of half-brown and half-pink. The two took a few moments to look around the room before slowly picking up their bags (or rolling them, in Neo's case), before heading out to the nearby staircase to leave the place they once called home. The rest of the children watched either from their own rooms or from the bottom of the stairs as the two descended the steps. As they reached the double doors for the building, a medium-height man wearing dark sunglasses and a black suit stood next to the matron, who looked slightly leery of the man next to her.

The man smiled as they approached, reaching out a hand to shake each of theirs in turn. His grip was stronger than what one would expect a man of his build and stature, but the two of them had learned that looks could very easily be deceiving after recent events. The matron then stepped forward to give the two of them a gentle hug and a soft, "I'm sorry it had to be this way," before stepping back and allowing the two of them room to follow the suited man to the new residence setup for them. Just before the door to the orphanage closed however, one child stumbled down the steps before clinging tightly to Neo's leg.

"Please don't go," the child begged innocently as Neo carefully pried his arms off of her legs before bending down and giving the boy a gentle hug. "We like it when the two of you are here, it's more exciting." Frost knelt down to face the boy as well before ruffling his hair slightly with a small smirk on his face.

"We'll visit again one day, but for now we need to go out a take care of a few things, okay?" The boy nodded briefly at Frost's short question. "Who knows, maybe we'll even be going to Beacon to learn to fight monsters the next time we come to visit!" The boy laughed slightly at this as Neo gently nudged the boy back towards the doors, his small hand waving goodbye the last thing the two saw before the doors closed on them.

"Well…as nice as that moment was, we really need to get moving kids. Time's a wastin'" The suited man stated as he guided Frost and Neo in the other direction down the street, to the new place they would be staying.

A little while later, the three of them began to approach the docks of Vale, the ocean becoming more visible as they continued on their walk. The more they continued on however, the fewer houses there appeared to be and the more warehouses they happened to notice, many of which were locked rather tightly from the looks of things.

"Hey buddy, where are we even headed?" Frost inquired the man in front of them as he simply strolled ahead of them, whistling a bit of a tune as they continued on.

"Just to where we arranged the two of you to be staying for the next while. You'll be pleased to know we even managed to get work lined up for the two of you ahead of time as well." The man flashed them a quick smile before turning back towards the docks as they grew closer. "You'll even be happy to know that food and other such accommodations will even be taken care of by your employer provided you do a good job."

"While that's a very generous offer for someone who doesn't even know us, I do have one question." Frost stated as the man in front of them stopped. "Who are you and why is someone that doesn't know us going so far to give us work?"

"I'm not really at liberty to say what my boss' motives/plans are, but as for my name?" The man turned and smiled a crooked grin as he faced them. "It's Perry, and I think I outdid myself this time, huh boss?"

"Meh. Had a few kinks that anyone with any sort of acting lessons would notice, but aside from that, not bad Perry." A new, yet familiar voice said from behind Frost and Neo. Both of their faces became mixtures of shock and rage at the person standing before them as he smiled at them with a cigar in his mouth. Aside from the bowler hat on his head, everything else was recognizable. From the coat to the hair, to the eyes, and especially to the smug look on his face, it was plainly obvious who this man was. It was the same man that the two had saved at the ruined warehouse before he nearly killed Neo with his cane.

"Kids, say hello to your new boss…Roman Torchwick."


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, so far I'm quite pleased with myself on the pace I'm getting these out as well as how the new Volume for RWBY has been going. Based on how the most recent episode ended...I really don't know what to expect for some things to come. I won't go into detail for risk that some of you may not be caught up yet, but needless to say, it's worth catching up if you haven't. Things are definitely going to be a bit different this volume, that's for damn sure.**

 **Otherwise, I hope you guys like the newest addition to the story. Feel free to comment, review, whatever you like as you go since it can help with things that I may need to otherwise work on. Peace.**

* * *

"…You're kidding, right?"

Both 'Torchwick' and Perry are left speechless for a few moments at the blunt response Frost makes. What they find even more surprising are the unsurprised expressions on Frost and Neo's faces as well as their nonchalant stances. The two then regain their composure as 'Torchwick' chuckles lightly.

"Well I guess that would be up to Perry here." 'Torchwick' replies as he twirls his cane a bit in one head while motioning to his lackey on the opposite side of Frost and Neo. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"N-no, boss." Perry shivers slightly under the scrutinizing eyes of 'Torchwick' as Neo and Frost just glance back and forth between the two of them. "I followed the plan exactly like you said. I don't get why they ain't terrified of the news we gave em."

Frost chooses this moment to interject, lifting both arms up in a casual manner that folks generally do when apologizing, "Look, no offense to your guys attempt at a stand-up comedy routine, but do we look like idiots to you?" Frost first turns to face Perry, who appears to be near the point of breaking out into a massive sweat, "As convincing as the whole government agent routine was, you kinda blew it as soon as we started leaving anywhere that even closely resembled a house or apartment building. Might wanna work on that one for next time." Frost then turns to face 'Torchwick' as Neo giggles slightly at Perry's now dumbstruck expression. "As for you pal, without looking at how well you seem to have dressed yourself up after nearly killing us nearly two weeks ago…" Frost pauses as he cracks the knuckles on both of his hands one-by-one, his expression hardening as he does so, "…get out of here right now with your drama buddy so that Neo and I can go and actually find somewhere to stay that isn't a waste of our time."

'Torchwick' studies Frost's expression for a minute or so, never ceasing the twirling of his cane despite the hostile pose Frost is now in with Neo taking up a defensive position just behind him while keeping her eyes on Perry. A chuckle can be faintly heard as the twirling continues, eventually transforming into a full on laugh as Torchwick puts a hand to his midsection with Perry chuckling nervously as he does so. After a few seconds of this, he immediately ceases laughing and suddenly has the barrel of his cane pointed directly into Frost's face, a stern expression devoid of all emotion plastered on his face.

"You heard him, kid. No jokes here." Torchwick states as the crosshair for the cane now revealed as Neo turns to face Torchwick as well. "Now be a good sport and go over there for me, would you?" He then motions to one of the nearby warehouse buildings that the group happened to stop by.

"And why should we?" Frost starts to move an arm to smack away the cane, but a quick teleport from Neo puts her on the same side as said arm as she grabs Frost and motions for him to stop. Frost nods before continuing, avoiding any reason for the man in front of them to fire his weapon.

"Hmm…why should you listen to one of Vale's most notorious criminals while he has a weapon pointed directly at your face?" Torchwick puts a finger to his chin as he looks slightly off towards the distance for a moment. His ponderous expression lasts for only a few seconds however as he immediately returns his view to that of Frost and Neo. "It couldn't anything have to do with the warehouse full of Dust that got blown up, could it? It's not like I spent some time stockpiling all of those materials for anything, or that losing that much is going to put us behind schedule immensely, would it?"

The sound of something rattling by the warehouses passes through the air for a moment as Frost takes a deep breath, "And what if it does? What happens then?" Neo looks up to Frost fearfully as she can feel the barely restrained fear shaking through Frost's arms. "Are you just try and kill one of us again like you did before? Because I don't see how that helps anything with the Dust you lost."

Torchwick just stares at the two for a few moments before his expression "brightens" somewhat (if you can call a death stare turning into a scheming look an improvement that is) and he lowers the cane to the face the ground instead. "I figured you weren't a complete idiot given the quick thinking you pulled that night. And you're right. Killing you doesn't do anything about that Dust you so well blew up for me."

Frost and Neo share a confused look with one another, not noticing Perry slowly scamper off to the shadows of the nearby warehouses in the present situation. They then turn to face Torchwick, the previous hostility in the air almost completely gone, confusion and hesitation now the strongest factors in this circumstance. "Wait…we're right?"

"As right as rain on a hot summer's day." Torchwick smirks as he sees Perry give a thumbs up out of the corner of his eye. "You see, while you two were recovering from your…unfortunate accident in the hospital, I decided to do some digging. It's not often you run into kids that are so full into their abilities, especially ones that are self-taught and never actually received any professional training from anywhere like Signal or Beacon. And as annoying as any kids may be, they can also have their uses."

Frost motions Neo to get behind him slightly as the conversation progresses, "What do you mean by digging, exactly?" Frost looks at Torchwick with a calculating expression, searching for anything that could give them a clue as to Torchwick's intentions for them.

"Digging for information, actually." Torchwick stated nonchalantly as Frost and Neo changed their positioning and stance in front of him. "You see, when I first saw what you two were capable of, I was intrigued. Your abilities are quite unique, and to be honest, very practical in a lot of professions. Then I got to thinking after a read some information from some records stating that the two of you had been asked if you attended a school but couldn't due to a lack of money since you have no parents." Torchwick smirks widens at the looks of shock on Frost and Neo's faces at their secrets and past being laid out in front of them. "You see, not just anyone can pull off grand thefts like I do. You need to have a sharp wit, tactical genius, and most of all…the skills to back them up. But I don't like to always get my hands dirty, so I sometimes get others to do some of the grunt work for me while I plan the heists themselves. It usually goes pretty well."

His expression hardens as another recent event pops up from his memory. "Or at least they did, until some other kids with "special talents" started being in the wrong place at the wrong time and interfered with some of my jobs. So I'm deciding to level the playing field a little bit. By making you two work for me."

Frost's jaw drops at Torchwick's last proclamation while Neo watches silently. "…Run that by us again, would you?" Frost puts a protective arm in front of Neo before they start to step slowly away from Torchwick. "Pretty sure I imagined you telling us that we're working for you."

"That's the best part! I'm not joking!" Torchwick laughs for a moment before he starts to twirl his cane again. "Between your ability to project bursts of energy- including adrenaline boosts to your own body and your little friends ability to move around via illusions and tricks of the eye you're a thief's dream come true!" Torchwick then turns and starts walking towards another end of the pier, his back facing Frost and Neo entirely.

Frost sees this opening, and immediately starts to move towards Torchwick at a fast walk while also aiming to be as silent as possible. Torchwick makes no motions to deviate from his current path and apparent lack of interest in the conversation at this point as Frost gets closer to him. Moments before Frost is in striking range however, Torchwick suddenly whips around with his cane drawn and pointed directly at Frost's face.

"Though we'll need to work on YOUR stealth at the very least since your friend can mask hers rather easily." A pondering expression appears on Torchwick's face as he glances back in the direction Neo is. "I wonder if we can get them as good as my own guys. Why don't we ask them?"

Frost slowly turns to see around a dozen White Fang members standing around Neo, one of them holding her tightly by the arm to avoid her getting away. Frost immediately snaps back to face Torchwick, a look of desperation on his face. Torchwick looks back at him with a smirk as Frost flounders for anything to say.

"What possible gain would we even have be working for you right now, though?" Frost asks Torchwick as he lowers his cane back to the ground. "We steal Dust and other junk for you, and then what? We just get tossed aside like yesterday's leftovers once we've done your dirty work?"

Torchwick continues to smirk at Frost as the pieces of his plan fall into their final place. "If you had waited a bit, I would have gotten to that. You see, when I went to the liberty of having someone confiscate your medical records for me, I also happened upon the results of our little encounter as well. Dust infections are such a difficult thing to treat unless you can fork over the money for the treatment, huh?" Torchwick looks on as Frost's eyes widen in realization. "So here's the deal- you two work for me, and as a package deal, once you two have done the work I need, I'll hand you the necessary dough to treat your friends damaged voice and leave the two of you in peace. How does that sound?"

Frost looks back and forth between the two groups again, seeing Neo struggling against the grip of her captors on one side and the smirking face of Torchwick on the other. After looking towards the ground for a few moments, Frost looks back up to face Torchwick with a look of pure hatred etched across his face.

"I hate you. I really fucking hate you."

"I'll take that as an 'I accept'."

* * *

After some time traveling for a bit longer through the docks, Torchwick, Frost, and Neo as well as the accompanying White Fang arrive at a larger and more isolated warehouse compared to the rest of the buildings. Torchwick steps towards the building and raps his cane on the metal door a few times before stepping back. A few moments later the door slides open and the group enters a large compound full of different stacks of weapons, assorted forms of Dust, as well as a large variety of White Fang members and men in Black suits moving around equipment.

"How have you not been caught yet?!" Frost exclaimed as the various White Fang broke off to different parts of the building with Frost and Neo continuing to follow Torchwick, albeit hesitantly. "This spot couldn't be more obvious of a hideout!"

"When the further away buildings don't get used as often for various cargos or get abandoned but haven't yet been torn down? It's amazing how effective those can be for hiding practically in plain sight of everyone trying to find you." Torchwick continues to lead the two of them through the building until reach what looks like a semi-official base of operations kind of room.

Upon a large table on a far wall appears to be a few more specific pieces of equipment, likely more profitable thefts Torchwick committed that haven't yet been committed to cash or other assignments. Torchwick walks up to one table in particular before lifting up what appears to be a pink parasol. After examining it and testing the weight a bit, he tosses the items to Neo, who catches it awkwardly before holding tightly to it like a lifeline.

"What's with the circus equipment?" Frost asks skeptically as he eyes the item now in Neo's possession. "Are you gonna try and use a circus act to distract guards or something?"

"No point in that when you can just block anything they happen to throw at you." Torchwick glances back before crosses both arms against his chest as he leans against the same table he had recently been looking at. "That parasol is lined with a high-grade fiber that can deflect any projectile as well as house a very nasty blade in the column of the umbrella itself. And before you ask, I realize that the two of you are likely opposed to most forms of violence. Unfortunately, people will not care when they see you with me, therefore you will need to get over some of the precious morals you hold so dearly to."

"We will never stoop to your level, Torchwick." Frost stated coldly as Torchwick turns to examine another table nearby.

"We'll see how long you hold onto those thoughts while you're in this particular line of business, kid." Torchwick then picks up two items before tossing both of them towards Frost. "In the meantime, I suggest you get acquainted with these."

Frost barely manages to catch both items properly before he goes to examine them more carefully. One appears to be a gauntlet or bracer of some sort with white-blue markings etched onto it, while the other appears to be a slightly curved longsword in a white sheath. Upon carefully sliding out the sword enough to see the blade, it appears to be a black metal that the sword is crafted out of.

"The sword is nothing special aside from being a bit more durable and tougher than an ordinary sword. Someone told me the actual name is a Curtana or something, but it's just a sword. Not like the name really matters. It had a few jewels in the hilt so I figured I'd get a decent price on it, but you can use it in the meantime I guess." Torchwick shrugs while Frost fastens the sheath around his waist, testing the weight slightly to figure out his balance.

"The bracer is the interesting one. Until now, it was just some experimental hunk of junk we robbed off of a weapon's development facility when we were gearing up a bunch of White Fang members. Someone grabbed this thing but until now it's just been some ornamental armor piece that no one really wanted. Some of our actually smart members went and found out that the markings are actually Dust etched into the metal itself. How that was managed I'll never know, or care for that matter. What it does mean is that your little talent for flinging around energy can actually fire Dust straight out of this thing."

"And you think that's a good idea, why?" Frost asked skeptically as he placed the bracer on a nearby table before crossing both arms against his chest. "The last time I was around Dust I blew up a building, or do you not remember that?"

"For one thing, you'll stop talking like that if you want to get anywhere from here once you're done. For another, that was all fire Dust, hence the explosions and fire. The markings on this are apparently ice Dust, so no need to worry about any accidents. Plus it fits with your namesake, so whatever."

"Fine." Frost stated as he picked up the bracer and carefully put it on, surprised at how well it seemed to fit on his hand and arm. Neo and Frost then hesitantly looked each other up and down a bit, now adorned with their new gear that they would likely be forced to use before the week's end.

"Now, if I were you two, I'd get acquainted with your new gear rather quickly." Torchwick stated as he walked past the two of them towards a closed door on another end of the large room. Frost and Neo gave each other one last confused look before following after him.

"And why's that?"

"Because," Torchwick started as he opened a set of double doors into a light that blinded Frost and Neo for a moment. When they were able to see again, they were able to glimpse a large room that seemed to resemble that of any arena, with a large amount of suited men and White Fang sitting around a large ring with what appeared to be more White Fang fighting inside. The whole room seemed to notice Torchwick's presence as the 3 entered, all of those present turning to face the newest entrants to the room. Torchwick flashed the two a quick smirk before moving behind them and pushing them towards the ring in the centre of the room. "You're going to be doing some training, now. Can't have you working with no experience after all."

Torchwick then pushed the two of them into the now open ring as someone closed the gate to it behind them, effectively locking them in with the current fighters. The White Fang members seemed to sneer at the effective "new meat" just as Torchwick cleared his throat.

"Remember the rules, fellas. No kills or heavy injuries, but feel free to knock em around a bit to give them their bearings. Otherwise, have fun!"

Everyone in the room took this as a sign that the action could continue, the White Fang in the ring now moving to surround Frost and Neo. Frost's shoulder's slumped as he and Neo drew their new weapons against their 'opponents'. Frost sighed as the White Fang began to pounce.

"Well, shit."


	4. Chapter 4

**So this chapter and the next one are likely to be a bit shorter than previous chapters given that they aren't as heavy in the dialogue and explanations as some of the other chapters may have been. After those two are up the following chapters will definitely see a return to the ~3k-4k lengths from what I can tell, maybe even longer than that depending on how much I end up writing for each chapter based on my outlines.**

 **Otherwise I hope folks are liking things so far, and that you all look forward to the stuff to come.**

 **As one final note before actually getting into the chapter, some may be wondering what exactly the rough look of Frost's sword might be like given how many different swords come up on Google image search when you look for Curtana, so I'll save you guys the trouble of trying to figure it out. It's the one that looks like it has a whole bunch of gemstones embedded into the sword and the sheath, with more of a focus on the colours I described in the last chapter rather than all of the silver and gold in the image you'll find. Hope that helps for any that might be curious.**

* * *

"Remind me next time to go for the legs first, alright Neo? The number of times they manage to get a solid hit in when I try to knock them out with a punch and they dodge it is starting to get annoying?" Frost sighed as he and Neo, as well as a few of Torchwick's assorted hirelings, returned from another Dust heist from the city. "Ironwood's soldiers being around all of a sudden is making these…jobs," Frost states while grating his teeth against each other a bit, "a little difficult to accomplish. The sooner we can get Torchwick to ignore us and let us go, the better off we will be."

Neo patted Frost's shoulder comfortingly as the two broke off from the group lugging in the cargo as they made their way to the space that had been set aside for them shortly after Torchwick had brought them into his circle of cronies. As they make their way down the hall, a few White Fang members manage to get in a few dirty looks at the two, with a few seeming to target Frost specifically. Aside from a few rough shoves, and a couple careful turns in the halls, Neo and Frost arrive at their private space without incident. Neo goes over to a nearby couch that she lies across as she pulls out a scroll, while Frost sets aside his gauntlet and sword and starts exercising on some equipment set in one corner of their room.

"Hey…Neo," Frost grunts out whilst doing some pushups on a more open space of the exercise-oriented portion of the room. "There's something I've…been meaning to…ask you…lately." Frost takes a short breather between reps to see if Neo has responded to his request at all.

From her position on the couch, Neo glances over in Frost's direction and gives him a small twirl of her hand to signify that he should go on with whatever he was going to say. She then immediately returns to looking at her scroll, even though Frost knows that she is, at this point, paying more attention to him that whatever she's seeing on the screen. He therefore decides to continue with what he was going to say.

"Have you ever wondered what exactly we're going to do once Torchwick lets us out of this mess, if he even does at this point?" Frost asked as he started doing his pushups again. For a little while, while Frost continues on another set Neo looks towards the ceiling for a bit before returning her attention to her scroll and typing out a message.

A moment later, Frost notices his scroll light up on the desk next to his weapons, so he decides to stop that portion of his exercises to see what it is. Upon opening it up to read the message, he sees it is a response from Neo about his previous question. It reads as follows- _It depends on the way things go whenever that happens. It could be in a few days, it could be in a few months, but at this point what matters is that we please Torchwick as much as we can so that way it's not us trying to leave with gunfire following us. As for after that, who knows? We could see about just returning to regular society, but at this point we've likely already been marked as criminals going around with Torchwick's goons so much that we're probably best suited to just stay closer to the underground. Maybe be bouncers at a club somewhere in Downtown Vale?_

Frost somehow manages a scoff and a chuckle at the same time upon reaching the last part of Neo's message, "Bouncers, really? Like at Junior's club? You do realize that a good portion of the guys here used to be Junior's, right? How do you think he'd feel having us work for him after coming from Torchwick when he's never seen his own guys in...how long now?" Frost places his scroll on a cradle nearby as he turns to a nearby punching bag, now starting some more exercises as he jabs and hooks at the suspended weight. "Besides, all that aside, I've overheard from the ones that are here now that Junior's often getting interrupted by a few crazy's that tend to leave the place a little bit unhinged by the time they leave. So I'll pass on that one, thanks."

Neo just shakes her head with a soft smile before keying in another message to Frost. From the way he has his scroll placed, he is able to briefly tap the screen to light up the message before returning to his punches, now starting to mix in a few kicks here and there. _Then what about as a bodyguard for someone, or as a fighter in some sort of king of the hill kind of tournament? You've gotten a lot better at fighting since we got here a month ago, and I'm pretty sure there are very few people left that can actually match your physical power with your Semblance factored in._

Frost sighs as he places a hand against the bag to stop its movement before looking over towards Neo. "Why are all of the options you're giving have to involve staying in the shadows even after we're out of our biggest one yet?" Frost implores as he moves over to his last exercise of the day on an elliptical bike. His legs start to move in tight, controlled circles as he starts the last leg of his self-designed regimen. "Why can't we just see about getting back to something peaceful, maybe even see about finding actual jobs for ourselves so that we can actually look at our future in a better light for once?"

Neo's face contorts into a slightly frustrated expression as she types out a brief message before moving quickly over to the nearby washroom to freshen up before the two start getting ready to go give their debrief to Torchwick. Frost waits a few moments after she has closed the door a little rougher than usual before finishing up his exercises and looks over to the last message Neo sent him. _This IS our life now. Torchwick knew that as soon as he got us into this that getting back into regular society would be next to impossible. The most likely scenario is that on our first day back in the lighter side of things we get noticed by some officers, whether it's Vale police or Ironwood's soldiers, and we get thrown in prison for the things we've conspired on. They won't care that we got strong-armed into it. The only thing that might do is lessen our sentence slightly. So I'd much rather try to live some sort of life without the police always after us, or never being able to get reliable work due to the darker side of our pasts. If it means that we may get stuck working for Torchwick indefinitely, then that's okay with me as long as it doesn't mean having to look over our shoulders every single night._

Frost sighs as he picks up his scroll and goes over to another open door that leads to his own personal bedroombefore gentling closing it behind him. He takes a moment to look at the message still on his screen before closing up his scroll and setting it on his desk before opening a couple drawers on a dresser to grab fresh clothes to change into. "This is why I want us to get out of here as soon as possible, Neo." Frost whispered to himself as he started getting changed. "I was always worried that we might eventually start giving into this life and give up on a happy ad peaceful life away from all of this." As Frost finishes taking off his jacket and shirt, a few scratches and bruises can still be seen from the night he hurled himself to Neo's side the first day they "met" Torchwick. He sighs as he puts on clean attire as he throws the dirty clothes into a pile in the corner.

"I just never thought you would be the first one to break given how the two of us have always been."


	5. Chapter 5

**So here is the other portion of the sort of bridge chapters before we get into the more overarching plot elements of the story. I hope people like what I have in store, as this is one of my favorite bits for this story that we're coming up on.**

 **Otherwise, don't forget to leave any reviews if you have any questions/criticisms and I hope everyone has a good weekend! Here's hoping RT's Extra Life stream tomorrow goes off with a "Yang!"**

* * *

Frost and Neo were silent as they traveled to Torchwick's "office" to deliver the news of their recent heist as well as find out if there was anything else for them to this on this particular evening. This time, it seemed most of the White Fang were out of the building for once, and so not as many bumps and glares ended up being directed at the pair as they made their way. As for the rest of Torchwick's crew, they could be seen loading a large covered object onto a trailer, clearly intended to be moved somewhere, though its destination or intent were unknown given the covering.

After a few minutes Frost and Neo arrived at the door to Torchwick's space, which Frost leaned forward to rap on the metal a few times for good measure. Lacking the usual response, Frost and Neo both look at each other as Frost shrugs before he slides open the door for the two to enter. They are immediately greeted by Torchwick pacing back and forth a few times as he looks towards the ceiling, as if in thought. Frost then raps on the door a couple times to get Torchwick's attention, to which his pacing immediately stops and he glances in the direction of the sound. He then smirks his usual crooked grin as he awaits the news of their latest heist.

"So…what are we looking at here?" Torchwick walked towards the two with his arms wide as if preparing to accept a large gift. "Did we pull away with as much of the Dust as our intel claimed? Was it the expected amount this time?" His expression held for a few moments before falling into a frown at the straight look from Neo and the slight head-scratching Frost was doing. He then sighed as he turned back towards his desk of papers and plans. "So how much did we manage to get then?"

"About half of what they said there was." Frost stated bluntly as Torchwick stepped over to his desk. "There were some…altercations that caused us to have to deviate from the initial plan and attempt a different route around a bunch of Ironwood's soldiers that were stationed there." Frost paused for a moment before interjecting into his own recollection of the robbery. "You do realize that Ironwood has been putting up more guards to prevent stuff like this from happening, right?"

Torchwick picked up his cane slowly and twirled it a few times before turning and firing it at a nearby wall very rapidly. He then whirled to face Frost and Neo with a look of contained rage on his face. "Do I realize that the dear General has been getting careful…hmm, I don't kno- YES! I realize perfectly well that they are stationing more guards around the goddamn city! This is exactly why we need to be going according to plan and moving on with these heists so that we can actually be ready for Stage 1!"

"You know…" Frost started, "…you never did tell us exactly what Stage 1 involved at all. That might help if we know exactly what we're working towards here." Frost shrugged with both hands raised as Neo put a hand to her forehead as she turned away from him slightly.

Torchwick paused for a moment, his cane half raised towards the wall again as he considered Frost's latest statement. "…You know what? You're right." Torchwick nodded his head as he lowered his cane to his side and leaned over to place the majority of his weight on it to look at Frost and Neo from the corner of his eye.

"I am?"

"Yes. You never were told exactly what Stage 1 would involve at any point up until now." Torchwick turned to stand in a more straightened fashion before starting to twirl his cane again, albeit a little slower than usual. "The truth is…Stage 1 is the sole purpose I brought the two of you onto this job. We need that Dust for us to enact our master plan. And as soon as we have a reasonable amount again, we will deliver it to its final drop point before completing the job we set out for a few months ago. Meaning you two will get to go- if things go according to plan."

"According to plan?!" Frost blurted out as Torchwick finished his statement. "You're likely intending to blow up a city or multiple cities with this junk! How exactly does that allow us to 'go free' when there's nowhere to go to that's not totaled?"

"Because we never intended to bomb a city in the first place you moron." Torchwick stated matter-of-factly before strolling over to his desk to pick up a flyer with his free hand. "And you also didn't let me finish." Torchwick tossed the flyer towards the two as he cleared his throat to continue. "…As I was saying, when we get enough Dust we will have it moved to its next destination. The problem with that is the fact that we don't have enough manpower to move that stuff quickly and efficiently since a bunch of the White Fang have already gone ahead of us to prepare the drop site. And that is why…" Torchwick turns to gesture his lit cigar towards Neo, who up until now has seemed uninterested in the conversation, save for watching the occasional outbursts from Frost and Torchwick. Her eyes dart over to look at Torchwick before she straightens her posture as well, given how she is now involved in the discussion. "…Neo here will be accompanying me to tonight's Faunus rally downtown where we will be recruiting a bunch of new arms to help transport the cargo once we've finished gathering them in a few days."

Neo tilts her head in thought while Frost steps forward as he swipes one arms in front of Neo, "We signed on replace the crap I blew up on you, that was the deal. We didn't sign on to be your personal mercenaries." Frost crossed both arms against his chest before glaring directly at Torchwick. "What makes you think that Neo will even agree to this job in the first place?"

"I don't know. Why don't we ask her?" Torchwick then pressed the cigar into the table to snuff it out as he glanced towards Neo. "Neo. What I'm asking is not likely to be very risky given it's just a bunch of idiots that don't know what the White Fang actually do, but in the event something does go down, I want you there in case we need to make a quick exit with your teleporting? Does that sound good to you? It could also include bonus rations for yourself and Frost should you go along with it."

Neo put a finger to her chin as she began to pace in between Frost and Torchwick, occasionally stopping to gesture to herself a bit as she considered her options. After a few painful moments of deliberation, she turns to face Torchwick before giving a simple nod of her head and a smile before moving to stand beside Frost.

"I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into, Neo" Frost stated to her as Torchwick twirled his cane a couple of times before ushering the two of them out of his office space and keying up the lock on the door. He then patted Frost's shoulder a few times, a little rougher than necessary, before leading Neo out of the warehouse towards an airship to carry them to the rally.

"Trust me kid, she's not in any danger at all where we're headed to."

* * *

"One week! She's already been gone for one whole week now!" Frost exclaimed to himself as he repeatedly swung at the punching bag in his frustration, not even bothering to restrain his punches at all as each arm glowed briefly before making contact with the weight. "I knew that her helping Torchwick out with that rally would lead to something worse!"

Given how well Neo had assisted Torchwick on the night of the rally when he had made chase after some "party crashers", as he called them, he had deemed her worth bringing along as extra "insurance" in their delivery of the Dust to Mountain Glenn. Whatever Torchwick had intended for it there, Frost had no idea whatsoever, but he knew it didn't mean anything good for Neo to be around that must explosive material.

The anticipation of her return safe had driven Frost to near-insanity, as he had taken up more violent stress relief on his exercise tools to help him alleviate his stress. As it currently stood, the elliptical had burnt out after he overran the motor and ruined the belt, the treadmill had grooves worn into the track where he had continued to scream across the highest settings on the machine and worn it out, and the punching bag was looking as though it would unhinge from its hook at any moment if he wasn't careful.

"First it's the old warehouse!" Frost took a sharp swing at the punching bag, causing it to spin sharply. "Then it's Torchwick and the White Fang blindsiding us and forcing us to work for them!" He then took another sharp swing at the bag, causing it to swing dangerously close to the top of the prop. "And now it's these stupid escorts that take her to the middle of nowhere with highly volatile explosives!" He then took a brief pause before putting out his right hand to stop the bag from swinging so violently. "…Why does everything I try to do just cause things to get darker and more violent whenever Torchwick is involved?!" His left arm then glows brightly before he lashes out and snaps the bag off its hinge entirely before embedding itself in the wall nearby.

Frost panted as the evident signs of exhaustion catch up to him and his current forms of stress relief. His break is interrupted rather suddenly however, as Neo appears in a flash of white light and collapses to her knees while taking deep breathes, much to Frost's shock. As he approaches Neo carefully, she notices him out of the corner of her eye and shakily gestures over to the scroll she uses to say anything in words to Frost when gestures and motions aren't enough.

He nods as he goes over to grab the device and hands it to Neo slowly, trying to avoid any sudden movements that might spook her in her present condition. She then begins to type out a message to Frost while occasionally taking a moment to try and calm herself down before pressing the send button. Frost pulls out his scroll and waits a moment before the indicator appears, signifying a new message. He then presses the yellow button to engage the device and see what Neo sent him.

 _Everything went south as soon as the train started heading down the tunnel with all of the Dust aboard._ Frost gave Neo a confused look briefly before she motioned with one hand to continue reading. Frost shook his head before turning back to the scroll. _Almost as soon as we started moving, the sounds of gunfire and fighting started from on top of the train and gradually moved further up until it was overtop the carriage I was in. After the sounds of fighting died down, three girls dropped in from a ceiling hatch, all of them being from the group that Torchwick had me get him away from the night of the rally. The blonde one managed to distract me to let the others by before we got into a fight…if you could call it that. She was obviously tired out and wasn't really posing much of a challenge for me, but that wasn't where things left off. After using her own power against her and knocking her out…_ Frost looked over to Neo with a cautious look on his face as she glanced away shamefully, turning back to the scroll a moment later. _I ended up drawing the sword that I usually keep inside the parasol. I don't know what came over me, but at that point I felt like a puppet looking on as someone or something controlled my body without being able to do anything about it. Thankfully I was interrupted by some women with dark hair and the most elaborate Grimm mask I've ever seen. It managed to snap me out of the trance I had fallen in, and I got out of there as quickly as I could before coming back here._

Frost set the scroll aside before leaning down and hugging Neo tightly. "Shhh…it's okay…" Frost soothed Neo as he rocked back and forth slowly, attempting to lull Neo into sleep with an old trick so that she could get the stress out of her system. "You didn't kill anyone, and we're both safe right now. Everything's fine." Frost continued to rock back and forth for a few moments before pulling away from Neo to see that even though she wasn't asleep, she had calmed down immensely from her panic-stricken state. Frost's eyes then widened as he remembered a few key parts of Neo's message. "You said that the ladies mask was like a Grimm? Could she have been from the White Fang?" Neo shrugged before moving over to the nearby couch to lie down in a more comfortable position. "What about the direction the train was headed? Do you know where the tunnel leads?"

Before Neo can respond to Frost's last request, a muffed BOOM and a brief shaking of the ground interrupts the two of them. Neo quickly opens her scroll before typing out another brief message to Frost. _That was the train. It was coming here to Vale to let out a bunch of Grimm from the mountain into the city to cause a panic._

Frost then snapped his scroll shut before moving over to fasten on his sword and gauntlet as he moves towards the door to their space. Neo attempts to move from her spot on the couch, but a sharp motion from Frost as he reaches the door indicates he doesn't want her to do anything at the moment. "Torchwick lied to us both Neo. He bombed the city, and purposefully brought you into a situation that could have easily gotten you killed and he wouldn't have cared in the slightest. I'm not letting him do that to us again. You stay here and get a quick breather until I come back from grabbing a few things, then we're leaving this place. For good. Even if it means leaving Vale."

Neo nods briefly as Frost opens the door silently and moves carefully into the hall before closing it just as gently. He then begins to walk down the hallways attempting to avoid attention or suspicion by any of the remaining goons. As Frost goes, a glint of violent intent appears in his eyes as he continues his march towards Torchwick's office.

"I'm not letting him interfere with our lives any longer. This ends today…one way or another."


	6. Chapter 6

**So this is an important thing to note in regards to the story going forward. Due to lack of characters available in the story description, I was unable to make an important note of this story becoming AU as of the end of Volume 2 of the show. It's possible that may change depending on what they do with Volume 3 and if I'm able to work that into the story in any reasonable fashion. As of now though, it is not my intention to involve the Vytal Festival or the tournament in any way.**

 **This chapter also marks an important turning point for the story and I hope those of you reading, both new and existing readers like what I have yet to come in terms of material. Aside from that, enjoy the newest chapter.**

* * *

"Hey man, you ever seen that kid look so worked up before?"

These, and words similar to them, were some of the words Frost could hear coming from assorted lackeys and henchmen as he made his way to Torchwick's personal space in the warehouse. Clearly he had done a better job of keeping his emotions in check before if this was their first time seeing him so openly frustrated. That or without Torchwick around they were possibly less caring about avoiding any confrontations with one of his "personal" agents. Either way, none of that mattered to Frost. The only thing that did was getting to his destination and finding answers.

Just as Frost turned the corner that was within sight of Torchwick's hangar, he was stopped by a hand roughly placed on his shoulder. Upon turning to see what the interruption was, Frost came face-to-face with Emerald and Mercury, the latter of which being the one who placed the hand on his shoulder. Frost spared a few moments to simply look at them before shrugging off Mercury's hand and turning to face the two.

"What's the rush?" Mercury asked as he crossed his arms across his chest with a smirk. "Or didn't you hear? Torchwick got caught by Ironwood's goons and taken away to get locked up. So if you're going to talk to him about something, he's not here."

Frost had to fight to keep a joyful smirk appear off his face at the news of Torchwick getting arrested before speaking in return. "Clearly he didn't fill you guys in on part of his own plan then. I was tasked with grabbing something from his…office, if you could even call it that," Frost motioned back towards the locked door before continuing, "after the Mountain assault happened regardless of how things went to retrieve something important. He figured there'd be a good chance that at least some soldiers would show up to the scene so I'm grabbing something to help break him out."

For a few moments, Emerald and Mercury simply stood and studied Frost as he stood before them, fighting to keep any nervous twitches hidden as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck. After what felt like an agonizing amount of time, Mercury simply shrugged as he and Emerald returned to more relaxed postures. Emerald then sighed and shook her head before returning her attention to Frost to speak, "…Whatever. Obviously he didn't fill us in on the accelerated schedule for the train, so him keeping another secret isn't exactly all that surprising. Doubt Cinder will be happy about that though."

"When has Torchwick ever given a crap what Cinder thinks as long as he keeps his skin?" Frost retorted as Emerald put both arms behind her head. "The guy's always been a snake so it's not like he has any reason to like any of us, regardless of where we stand currently."

"Guess you're right." Mercury said as he and Emerald turned to walk down the corridor Frost came down. Frost calmly walked around the corner until he was out of sight of the two of them before practically flying across the floor of the building while making as little noise as possible before reaching the locked door. He then took a calming breath before placing his bare right hand in front of the keypad for the door. After concentrating for a few seconds, the tips of his fingers started to glow lightly before a small spark of energy jumped to the keypad and discharged the circuits keeping the door closed. Frost breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of an alarm before silently stepping through the gap in the door and pulling it shut behind him, not noticing the light trail of smoke and blinking red light on the far side of the panel in his haste.

* * *

"Now…if I were a hidden trove of secrets hidden by an infamous thief/criminal…where would I hide it?" Frost pondered to himself as he started going over Torchwick's supplies in his attempt to find a hidden switch or secret lever. In all of the times he had been in this room, he had never really noticed anything out of the ordinary and so didn't really have any clues to go off of in terms of potential hiding spots.

He moved around all sorts of things, from schematics of Atlas Paladins to routes for city-wide heists of Dust based on locations and sizes of buildings. After endlessly searching for at least 10 minutes however, his search came up fruitless for anything out of the ordinary. He could only slam his palms against a desk as his frustration began to boil to the surface once again.

"Where is it?!" Frost snapped as he stood against the metal surface, his mind abuzz with ideas of places that a door, handle, or even a small switch could be kept hidden. "He claims so often that he's a master at what he does, at never getting caught by the police because he always thinks one step ahead, and yet he doesn't keep a hidden compartment for anything he needs to keep private?! It doesn't make any sense!"

Frost swept aside a bunch of the different papers on the desk's surface before kicking the metal in frustration. He pauses a moment later at the sound of something rattling or shifting inside the desk right after kicking the desk itself. A look of realization then appears on his face as he rushes around to the side of the desk where the handles for the drawers are before practically ripping out each one and placing it on top of the metal surface.

"I really hope I'm right here…" Frost ponders aloud as he fishes through boxes of cigars and Dust cartridges before gently setting each thing aside before returning to the contents of the drawers. Frost's hope is nearly depleted by the time he reaches the last drawer just as he feels a leather material brush his fingertips towards the bottom. A bright smile appears on his face as he carefully slides a book out of a side compartment in the drawer and places it in front of himself on the desk.

"Count on someone so narcissistic to keep something hidden practically in plain sight where no one would think to look." Frost chuckled to himself as he opened the book to a random page. After reading a few lines that seem disinteresting, Frost skips ahead a few pages before his eyes catch a particular line of text.

 _I can't believe we got stopped by a little girl! It's bad enough that these goons I got from Junior don't fully understand how a robbery works, but for some kid with some weird-ass scythe weapon to be the reason we didn't get our target is the most annoying thing I've ever had to deal with. Bad enough I had to rely on the Dust queen to actually get out of there but this is ridiculous!_

Frost had to take a moment after reading the text to get over the fact that this seemed to be a journal of sorts that Torchwick was keeping separate from everything else. Frost then smirked as he sees that Torchwick has been having a string of bad luck over the last few months in regards to his plans before skipping ahead a few more pages and reaching what looked like another large rant from a night at the docks.

 _Goddamnit! Why of all things did she have to be there, again?! The first time I ran into that red-hooded girl I thought it was a fluke, but now with her, the crazy laser girl, the monkey-boy, and the cat girl, I'm starting to wonder if I'm eventually going to just get beaten by kids rather than the adults that keep trying- and failing- to catch me. That heist was going to put us way ahead of schedule, so of course it would have to be the one that goes sour! I think I need to see about getting more muscle of my own, just in case._

Frost sighs as he looks at the date stamp on the entry- just a couple weeks before he and Neo ran into him at the old warehouse and everything for them changed. Frost paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts before turning another few pages further as a look of sadness appears on his face at the entry he turned to: the very night they first met Torchwick.

 _I know I said fate was being harsh to me before, but I think things are finally starting to turn around...minus the fact that Dust supplies keep fluctuating like crazy. Either way, I just so happened to run into another situation that lost out on Dust for us, the fan-fucking-tastic part being that it was Dust we ALREADY STOLE! This time it was from a couple weird kids that clearly don't check the news that much if they couldn't recognize me even with Dust ash covering my suit. I honestly thought I would get my chance to vent some frustrations for once and get rid of the pests this city has, but noooo. I get to find out not 30 minutes after I get back and get some good clothes on that the same two kids got taken to the hospital to recover from their injuries!_

Frost scans further down the page to see that there is more text added in, sort of like an afterthought to the initial entry.

 _This might work in my favour though. These kids clearly aren't armed or capable of the same stuff that those other kids are…I think I might have found my new muscle. Hopefully these ones are actually competent for once._

Frost could feel his knuckles rubbing against the metal surface as he clenched his hands into fists after reading this entry, frustrated at how unfortunate the timing was, but also at having to relive the memories of that night again and the helpless feeling he felt seeing Neo carried into the ambulance with such an extreme amount of care as though she were a porcelain doll. But he couldn't stop here, not without finding out more. Frost spared a quick glance to the door to see if there were any signs of motion as well as to focus and hear if there was any increased activity from the other side.

After sparing some time to find that nothing was currently out of the ordinary, he returned to the book before turning a number of pages further in. His eyes kept their hardened look as he began to read the next entry. At this point, anything could be possible for either plans Torchwick could have, or other intentions he has for himself and Neo.

 _Turns out those kids actually have some sort of abilities. The files I had swiped from the hospital seem to state that both of them have recorded emergences of Semblances despite not having any training at any of the Huntsmen schools. Apparently they're not able to either, given how they live in an orphanage down the road from that old warehouse without any way to pay for schooling. How tragic. Guess this works even better for me since the only apparent issues is the girls voice being gone from too much Dust inhalation while they were buried in that building for so long after I trapped them. Why the boy didn't have any persistent issues, I don't really care. This just means that once they get let out I can enact my strategy to reel them into our circle of thieves. Hopefully that formula we stole can be of some use now other than collecting Dust until someone shows interest in it._

"Formula?" Frost wondered as he stepped away from the book for a moment to think. "What's that supposed to mean? The whole thing about the lack of injuries was weird to me too a few years ago, but the doctors explained that apparently the energy bursts I'm capable of also act as some sort of booster for the average healing rate that people with Auras are capable of. So I can get how Torchwick wouldn't know about my body pretty much refusing flus and such." Frost returned to the open book in an effort to learn more. "Guess I'm gonna have to keep reading if I wanna find out."

Frost then turned a few pages further and noticed that the next entry seemed to be from the night of the White Fang rally that Torchwick had brought Neo to. He then steeled himself for what he may possibly find in Torchwick's thoughts from that night.

 _Well…aside from the interruption we had from the same kids plus a few others tonight, we've got our new manpower to finish our operation in the southeast. Hopefully this time we can go without these kids somehow finding us again…I think I'll prepare just in case they do happen to find us somehow. Either way, Neo's progress is going along excellently. The formula seems to be doing its job of opening her up to suggestions given her and the boy's previous aversion to heavier violence or more public criminal activity. I wish I could same about that Frost kid though. Aside from the annoying snark since he still has a voice, his fighting skills are pretty good, all things considering. It's too bad that we'll likely have to find out he died in an accident while we comfort Neo and continue to administer the drug. His abilities seem to be nullifying the all traits of the drug, especially the Grimm ones._

Frost could feel his hands shaking as he stepped back and fell onto a nearby chair after reading the last few lines of the entry. "A…drug?" The pupils of his eyes contract as he takes in the new information and reflects on the last few months. His throat suddenly feels dry and his pulse starts to accelerate as he looks back at the book, afraid of what else there is but at the same time knowing he needs to read more before returning to Neo as fast as possible.

… _I always found it so amusing when I first found out that some crazy scientist decided to take Grimm remains and do tests with it. Turns out that aside from removing the normal inhibitions and increasing violent tendencies in the target of the drug, it also makes them more prone to suggestion by those around them by removing the effects of their own individual thoughts. Hopefully we can find some way to make it last permanently though. Having to apply dosages into their food every few days is getting to be annoying, as well as taxing on the amount that we still have left. At least after the boy is out of the picture we can ration the remainder out to keep Neo sedated until we find a permanent solution. That should work in the meantime._

Frost stumbled away from the desk, while managing to keep his balance this time, before turning towards a nearby trash can and dry heaving over it. After falling to his knees and staring at the bottom of the canister for a small time, his expression hardened as he stood back up with a light glow encompassing his arms and legs as he strode over to the desk in a few steps and pocketed the leather book inside of his coat. He then leapt over the desk without any apparent effort before slamming the metal door open on its sliding hinge as he began to run down the hallway back towards his and Neo's space in long strides, his Semblance carrying him along in a sudden burst of adrenaline-fueled speed.

"I'm coming Neo. Just hold on a few minutes longer."


	7. Chapter 7

**So I just managed to squeak this one out before hitting the sack for enough sleep to properly function for work tomorrow, but otherwise I'm very pleased with how this chapter turned out and I hope everyone else is too.**

 **On a side note, can I just say that Winter and Qrow are both AMAZING and I can't wait for the next episode this Saturday? Because they are! And I am really eager!**

* * *

All was quiet. Multiple shelves that were previously loaded with weapons, Dust, and the assorted piece of stolen tech were now barren of any of their previous supply. It was almost as though the large-scale operation that had been in the planning for months had never actually happened in the first place.

Or at least it seemed like that until the loud pounding of shoes running across hard cement flooring echoed off the walls after a metal door slammed open. Had there been any of the White Fang or Torchwick's hirelings present they would be flattening themselves against the walls as Frost blazed down them, his legs aglow with his Semblance.

Until a few months ago, Frost could barely create energy bursts with his latent ability; but even a couple of months learning to fend for yourself amidst a large gang of criminals can be ample incentive to enhance your abilities and the way they manifest. It was with this manifestation of Frost's energy that he was able to move down the halls of the warehouse at a much faster pace than usual, and for very good reason: He now knew the truth behind a number of Torchwick's dealings and the present situation he and Neo had been thrust into. Now it was time to bring those plans crashing down around them…but only metaphorically this time.

"Why does it always take longer to get somewhere when you're in a hurry?!" Frost grumbled to himself as he continued his sprint down the aisles of empty boxes and shelves. "It's like some sort of curse from the universe itself! Don't wanna be somewhere? Guess what, you're there already. Other way around where you actually want/need to get somewhere? Longest fucking travel ever!"

It was due to this personal conversation/rant that Frost was currently in, that he barely noticed two figures turn the corner down the hall he was currently in and slid to a stop in time, his feet making a skidding sound as he scraped to a halt, his muscles tensed. After clearing the red rush of adrenaline from his mind briefly as an aftereffect of his Semblance, he blinked a few times before looking closer at the figures down the hall that were slowly approaching. Given how empty the place seemed to be, Frost was unsure exactly who to expect at this point, and so carefully walked forwards, his senses heightening as his mind became more alert.

"In a hurry again, Frost?" Mercury's voice carried down the hallway as he and Emerald came into a clearer sight for Frost. He and his partner seemed for the entire world to be completely nonplused about Frost's rather loud and sudden stop and the tensed look he appeared to have despite his best efforts. It was as though this wasn't something out of the ordinary for them, even though the only other time they had come across him in any sort of similar fashion was earlier that day.

"You could say that." Frost replied after a quick moment of thought as the two groups approached each other. "You wouldn't happen to know where Torchwick's failsafe went, would you? Because someone moved it, and I highly doubt that anyone else is as good at breaking in and stealing stuff as you two. I mean, we could ask around, but I think Tukson might be tough to get in touch with." Frost took a couple deep breathes to calm his nerves as he awaited the others response.

"…Nope. Not a clue." Mercury shrugged with his response.

"Well then, I'll see you two again on whatever job we do next after I go and find it in that case. If you'll just excuse m-"

Frost is cut off as Emerald suddenly draws her weapons to her sides and Mercury's greaves give off a muffled click as he flexes the muscles in his legs to activate them. He responds by quickly drawing his sword in his right hand and extending it ahead of himself as his gauntlet glows slightly at his side, his left hand tense with his fist clenched. The two groups once again spend a few moments sizing each other up as they hold their current positions.

Frost speaks first, breaking the silence in the hall. "Soo…wanna explain what exactly is going on here? Or did I miss the daily backstab memo that went out?" He smirked slightly, his senses firing up as the adrenaline begins to course through his body once again.

"Cut the act wise guy," Emerald retorted as she twirls one of her weapons, which were currently in their gun-form. "You think you're so clever, believing you had us fooled when we ran into you earlier. Clearly you weren't thinking straight- as usual- since we saw through your bluff almost immediately before coming here and waiting for your eventual return trip. It was almost too easy."

Frost frowned as he eyed their expressions, the anticipation of a fight present in about as obvious a way as was possible. "Is that so? Well forgive me for doubting, but I find it hard to believe that the two of you would figure out that I would be going in this exact direction, all things considering."

"That's because **I** told them where to go."

Frost's expression froze with fear at the sound of the voice now coming from behind him, thankfully sounding as though the owner of the voice spoke up so that it could carry down the passage. Frost slowly turned around to face the owner of the voice, eventually turning enough to see Cinder Fall slowly walking down the hall towards them, her arms swinging limply at her sides as a devilish smile sat upon her face. The gentle clacking of heels on concrete pervaded Frost's hearing like the tolling of a bell, his options slowly falling away around him.

"At first I thought the two of them were just making stuff up since the 3 of you never did along very well," Cinder stated as though a mother disapproving of the actions of her children before continuing, "But then we started to hear the oddest sounds. As though someone were throwing things across a room, or stumbling across chairs and boxes. The first time we thought it was a fluke, but after hearing it every few minutes…" Cinder's strides came to a halt as she stopped about the same distance from Frost on one side as Emerald and Mercury were on the other. "We knew it had to be a little mouse that had gotten into something it shouldn't have. You wouldn't happen to know who that person is, would you?"

Frost mentally kicked himself for losing his cool like he had in Torchwick's area before turning to face Cinder directly, his back currently exposed to the other two. "Stow the act, Cinder. You all figured it out already, so the word games can be skipped. I'm quite sick of your type of games to be honest, and I'm kind of disappointed that you didn't get your sorry asses found out and hauled off like Torchwick did after the breach today." Frost paused for a moment as he flexed his armored hand a few times. "How did that go by the way? I don't know if you were there, but it must have felt sooo good for that plan to fall apart like that after all of the careful planning you all went through."

Cinder clucked her tongue lightly at Frost's remarks as she took a moment to examine her hands, unfazed by the attempted barbs he was throwing at her. "Roman went ahead and did things ahead of schedule, so that mistake was on him. Our plans don't change at this point in time, with or without him there to 'support' us. We've made sure that we have alternate avenues to progress along even with this one sealed ahead of us." Cinder then returned her attention to Frost with one hand raised and turned with the palm facing herself as she continued. "The only important thing now, is where your loyalties lie in regards to the current state of affairs. I know that you've read enough of Roman's precious little book to figure out where you and Neo fit into the picture right now…or should I say where Neo fits into the picture."

"You won't have anything else to do with either of us after today," Frost snarled as he clenched his jaw and his arms and legs flared briefly. "You and I both know that neither of us wanted to be here from the start, and the only reason Neo is so willing to oblige is because of that damn drug in her system. As soon as I get her out of here and give it time to ease out of her system, she and I will be back to a normal life away from all of this crap." At this point, the runes on Frost's gauntlet are aglow with energy as the adrenaline flares throughout his body have gradually increased the amount of charged Dust within the metal.

"Oh, but you're wrong there." Cinder playfully chided Frost as a gentle mist began to waft from the bracer towards the floor. "You see, now that you know, there's now a second option you can choose."

"And why do you think I'd even remotely consider anything else at this point?" Frost snapped as he took a quick glance behind himself to see Emerald and Mercury still with their weapons drawn, but casually standing around as they watched the scene of Cinder and Frost before them. He took a moment to gesture back towards them as he turned to face Cinder again. "I'm pretty sure it would just involve you getting these two to stab me in the back later anyways."

"Nothing like that, I assure you." Cinder stated smoothly as she continued to gaze at Frost. "It would simply involve us giving you an extra-large dose of the drug to guarantee your cooperation. Which would be even more easily attained since it seems that larger doses run a risk of causing acute memory-loss, hence Roman's hesitation to apply it since it would end up reverting all of the progress he would have made with the two of you in the first place."

"And you think I'd willingly turn myself into an empty husk of a puppet just to save my skin?" Frost pondered aloud as he continued to glare ahead. "I would rather die kicking and screaming than be robbed of my personality and be turned into some killing machine for you assholes!"

As soon as Frost finished screaming his defiance, he then pointed his armored hand towards the ground before using his Semblance again to push all of the charged Dust out of the bracer in a thick cloud of mist that went from wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling both ways before covering Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury as well. He then took this opportunity to bolt in the direction away from where he was facing in an effort to use the mist as a cover to get past Emerald and Mercury and grab Neo with enough time to escape the complex.

"Get him you two!" Cinder's voice rang out through the thick white cloud. "He's trying to escape with Neo, stall him while I get this cover dealt with!"

"We're trying!" Emerald called back as Frost used her voice to dodge a swing of her now blade-formed weapons at the last second. "But he's more used to moving around in situations like this than we are!"

After getting past Emerald and Mercury, Frost broke free of the mist a few moments later, pausing to take a few quick breaths before sprinting down the hall once again. His luck was for not however, as a moment later he heard a roar of fire followed by a fire tipped black arrow that whizzed past his head and exploded on the wall a few seconds after the roar. Frost quickly turned on the spot to see Cinder with her bow drawn and nocked as Emerald and Mercury stood on both sides of her in ready positions.

"Guess we're back to this then, huh?" Frost stated as he took a quick glance behind him to judge the distance back to his and Neo's rooms. It was too far to make it in time without being caught from behind from one of their attacks. One on one he could potentially handle Mercury or Emerald, but with them together, and now with Cinder, he didn't stand a ghost of a chance of outrunning them. Which only left him with one other option.

"No, this time we will put you down. Like Torchwick should have with the two of you back in that warehouse months ago." Cinder stated as she pulled the string back on the bow. "I'm just cleaning up his messes once again. Goodbye Frost."

"Goodbye to you too, Cinder. It's been a blast." Frost stated just before turning and running along one side of the hall.

As Frost turned and bolted, Cinder readjusted her aim briefly before firing the arrow ahead of Frost to catch him with its explosion. What none of them expected however, was Frost to glance back with a smirk as his legs began to glow again, giving him enough of a boost to match the arrow's trajectory rather than being behind it like Cinder had intended. He then used the remainder of his excess energy to make a large ice shield project from the bracer as he somersaulted just ahead of the arrow, turning so that the shield would be facing the impending explosion as the arrow made contact with the metal wall in a fiery explosion.

Frost then used the cloud of dust and debris to jump through the now existent hole in the wall, tucking into a roll as he appeared outside of the building. He briefly dusted off his coat and pants before sheathing his sword and turning to face the city of Vale, and more importantly…Beacon.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this Neo." Frost's hands clenched into fists as he started sprinting with labored breath down the docks, keeping to the alcoves of the other warehouses to avoid being detected by both regular dockworkers, as well as any of the group he had just escaped from. "But I'll be back with help as soon as possible, I promise."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the opening of the warehouse wall, the dust was just now beginning to settle as Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury stood at the opening.

"We lost him." Mercury stated bluntly as they assessed the damage and present situation.

"Thank you for your words of wisdom, genius!" Emerald snapped as she turned to face her 'partner'. "But he got away with Torchwick's book! And he's likely on his way to the police or Ironwood as we speak!"

"That's enough you two." Cinder snapped the two into silence as she continued to peer out over the harbor at the approaching sunset. A smirk appeared on her face as she turned to face the two; looks of confusion apparent at the apparent good mood Cinder appeared to be in. "The book escaping our possession, while unfortunate, doesn't deter us from any of our current plans. The only things Roman ever wrote in that book were things he was aware of, and our actions at Beacon are not among those things. I made personally sure that neither of your names are present within his writings just in case he did go and do something moronic like this."

She then turned as an evil smirk adorned her face, her stride taking her in the direction of Frost and Neo's section of the building. "Besides, we have to go comfort his friend now that he decided to desert her here, don't you?"


	8. Chapter 8

**So...this will likely be my only chapter for at least close to a week with Black Friday coming up. I get the fun task of working everyday for the whole weekend for one of the most annoying times of year where I work. On the plus side, there'll be a new episode of RWBY up this Saturday that I'll be able to watch following, if not just before, work.**

 **I hope people like this chapter, since I feel like it's one of my better ones. I hope certain characters don't feel too off or anything as people read. Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

"Three days now…and I'm nowhere closer to getting this dumb little book to Ironwood than I was when I left Neo behind." Frost lamented as he held the small leather journal in front of him, pondering on his next course of action. "You'd think that with all the late-night raids and the lateness we went out would make it so that we wouldn't be recognizable, but apparently a guy with white hair and a black sword is something the soldiers are looking for. Just my luck."

He sighed as he returned the book to his chest pocket, patting the space lightly before grabbing an apple he had set on top of the table he sat at, gazing at its polished red surface before taking a large bite out of it. His gaze flickered amongst the patrons of the eatery, stopping briefly at a family by the counter that seemed to be getting a snack in the middle of the beautiful Vale afternoon. He smiled slightly at the sight of a young boy eagerly grabbing the attention of who was likely his father and gesturing towards a large chocolate chip muffin on a display case. The father shook his head slightly with a strong smile on his face before pointing out the treat to the sales clerk, who grabbed it and handed it carefully towards the young boy as his father grabbed the change to pay for it.

Frost's expression saddened as he went back to looking forlornly at his lonely table. It had been at least two weeks now since he and Neo had any moment even remotely similar to that kind of family moment, and that realization cut deeply at Frost's heart as he thought about how torn up she'd likely be after realizing he was gone. If anything however, this realization served only to fuel his desire to set things right as he stood up from the table and started towards the door to the shop, throwing away the half-eaten apple in the nearest trashcan as he exited the building.

His eyes began to rove the streets the moment he set foot outside the shop, constantly on the lookout for any of Ironwood's troops. Thankfully this time of day was a much more relaxed time despite the increased police patrols after the recent Breach. This meant that until he got closer to Beacon and the other schools attending the Vytal Festival, he wouldn't have to worry so much about being recognized by anyone.

Frost started on his way after figuring out which direction Beacon laid due to the amount of time he'd spent inside the small café, constantly looking back and forth at the different buildings and types of architecture the city had to offer. Even with the occasional trek that he and Neo had made into the city, he had never really taken the chance to truly admire the work that went into everything. Everything was a new story to him, with each shop adding another chapter to the story that was Vale and its citizens. His admiration of the city was interrupted suddenly however, by way of a loud female voice coming from further down the street.

"…and that's why we're taking today to just relax in the city! Besides, it's a day off from classes or sparring matches so why not stretch our feet a little?"

Frost only caught part of the conversation as the voice increased in volume, but eventually was close enough to pick out a second voice, likely the one being spoken to, responding to the first.

"You know there are still assignments due for our next day of classes thought, Yang. You just wanted an excuse to come out and do something that didn't involve studying or doing actual work like Weiss and I already did. Even your sister is staying in the dorms where Weiss can help her with anything she may struggle with."

Frost rolled his eyes as he followed the crowd past the owners of the voices, a smirk playing across his face as he thought about how he would likely be doing the same thing if he were going to any sort of school at the time as well. And about how Neo would likely be the other voice telling him to go back and do his work. This unfortunately stunted his good mood slightly before he brushed it off and started to continue down the walkways again.

"Oh lighten up Blake. We saved the town and Torchwick is behind bars. Don't tell me that you don't feel at least a little bit like celebrating since we were the ones mostly responsible for that?!"

And just like that Frost was suddenly a lot more interested in these two seemingly random girls. He immediately turned to gently ease his way back through the crowd in an attempt to find the two girls speaking as their conversation continued.

"You know I'm glad he's caught, Yang. But Torchwick hasn't been working alone for the last little while now, and we don't know how many things he might have planned for even though he got arrested."

Frost's eyes immediately widened as he quickly hopped off to the side of the moving crowd. He was now torn between meeting the speakers face-to-face and risk being recognized if they knew anything about Torchwick's recent operations and the chance at a direct way to get some form of contact with Ironwood. As he pondered his options, he carefully kept his ears peeled for any changes in direction the conversation he was listening in on might take.

"At least you aren't going completely crazy over trying to find out stuff about him again." The first voice's tone implied a similar event had happened at some point in the past and that the owner of the second voice had at one point had an obsession with finding things out about Torchwick before his capture.

"Considering we've faced off with him at the docks, on the streets when he was controlling a mech, and then on the train in the tunnels from Mountain Glenn? I highly doubt he doesn't have something up his sleeve."

"Wait, what?!" Frost snapped silently to himself as the most recent statement set into his mind. If what the second voice was saying was correct, then that meant that they were some of the girls that had popped up numerous times in Torchwick's journal in the later entries from before he crossed paths with Frost and Neo. Now it didn't matter at all if it got him in trouble or anything; these girls were the best way to get incriminating info on Torchwick straight into Ironwood's hands before things got worse for Neo.

"Whatever. Until something happens I say we take this moment of peace and enjoy it. I say we do that by going and grabbing a quick snack somewhere before we walk around more."

"You can go on ahead. I'm not really hungry at the moment and I saw a shop a block back or so that had something I was interested in."

"Was it that bookshop on the corner? What, did you see the newest copy of _Ninjas of L-_ " The first voice was immediately muffled by what was likely a hand belonging to the second voice.

"…know you found out about that, but you don't need to publicly announce it for everyone to hear."

"Oh fine. I'll just go and grab myself a snack then. I'll meet you back at the bookstore since you'll likely get distracted by something in the window and just read things until I show up."

"Just go, Yang." The second voice had a playful tone to it as the first started to fade as it said its goodbyes.

Frost waited a moment before stepping back into crowd and following it in the general direction of the bookstore the two had mentioned. As he went he glanced through the crowd he was in, in an effort to try and spot one of the two girls talking. After a few scans, Frost noticed a girl with dark hair and a bow enter the nearby shop with what appeared to be a sheathed weapon attached to her lower back.

" _I'm gonna take a guess and say that's one of them based on the descriptions Torchwick had in his book._ " Frost thought to himself briefly before moving to enter the shop himself. He glanced around briefly until he caught a faint trace of stylized black boots turn the corner of a bookshelf before following after. As he turned the corner, he saw no sign of the girl and therefore resorted to simply glancing down each aisle as he passed in an effort to spot her. After going past at least half a dozen aisles he got a glimpse of her reading a book at a random shelf in the next aisle.

Before simply stepping forward and striking up a conversation however, Frost quickly caught himself and turned sharply to look at random books on the shelves in front of him. " _Wait a second there. I'm pretty sure you don't want your first conversation with what looks to be a huntress or huntress-in-training to be:_ Hey! You don't know me, but I used to work for a man you got arrested and I have something of his you might want! _That would go over in such a smooth fashion._ " Frost sighed deeply as he continued to ponder his options while glancing along the shelf he was at, unaware that Blake had heard his sigh and glanced in his direction before her eyes widened at the sight of him.

Frost's head quickly turned at the sound of a book snapping shut and sliding back onto its shelf before the dark-haired girl quickly moved down the aisle towards the entrance of the store. Frost's eyes gained a determined look to them as he turned to follow at a safe distance, making sure to keep a reasonable distance between the two of them to avoid looking suspicious. As he exited the store he quickly caught sight of a black bow turning down a nearby alleyway, his feet quickly carrying him down the steps of the store at a brisk pace before he walked a little ways down the street before turning down the same alley.

At first all Frost noticed were the assorted piles of bagged up garbage sitting next to the back entries of a few shops and a dumpster closer to his end of the long passage. What was odd was the fact that the dark haired girl with the bow was simply standing in a more open section of the passage with her back turned to him. Frost shrugged before carrying forward and beginning to raise his right hand to tap the girls shoulder and get her attention. This was met with his hand silently passing through the girl's body before it faded into the air in front of him, followed by the clicking of a weapon being unholstered before feeling the coldness of metal touch the back of his neck.

"Turn around with your hands up…slowly."

Frost stamped down on his first instinct to snark the person holding a weapon to his neck as he carefully turned around to face his would-be captor. The first thing he notices are the piercing amber eyes the girls has before he glances down at the odd weapon held at him. Before he can examine it further however, his thoughts are interrupted by the girl in front of him.

"Why were you following me?"

Frost stumbles to find the right words for a brief moment before he responds, "I wanted to talk to you. That's all."

The girls' eyes narrow as she scrutinizes Frost. Her gaze falls upon the rest of him, taking special note of the outfit he has on and especially towards his sheathed sword and the bracer on his left arm. After a few moments of sizing him up she backs away a few steps while still keeping her weapon slightly raised in a defensive manner.

"And why should I believe that, coming from someone that works for Torchwick."

Just like that, Frost's confidence faltered like a caged animal. "I…I have no idea what you're talking ab-"

"Cut the crap." His response was immediately silenced as the girl suddenly stepped directly in front of him again; her weapon now even closer to Frost then it was before. Her glare hardened as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of Frost's head and down his neck in his nervous state. "I did my research on Torchwick for a little while now, and I know all about a couple reports mentioning someone of your description showing up once or twice along with members of the White Fang on security footage taken from Dust robberies. I know you helped him supply for the attack he made on the city a few days ago."

"What if I told you I left his employment and wanted to try something new?" Frost questioned slightly as he attempted to find an out in this situation. "I never liked Torchwick from the beginning so I'm trying to find a way to make sure he stays away for a while."

"The White Fang don't exactly like him either, yet they're working for him. What's to say you aren't a spy for him, or someone sent to try and break him out?"

"You honestly think I'd be so stupid as to just walk into a heavily guarded space like Ironwood's airships and attempt to break out some deadbeat? I don't gain anything from that and neither do you." Frost stated heatedly at the implications that he would stick his neck out for someone like Torchwick. "If anything we want the same thing here. I want Torchwick kept locked up so that I can move on from a darker time in my life, and you want less people following his orders. It's a win-win here."

"Even if that is true, why exactly should I believe you have a way to keep him in there?" Blake raised an eyebrow at Frost's claims, clearly unimpressed and unbelieving in his tales.

"Because I have…this." Frost stated as he pulled the small book from his chest pocket, holding it triumphantly beside his head. He smirked as Blake looked at the book with a confused look on her face before explaining. "It's a journal belonging to Torchwick."

Blake's expression returned to that of her unimpressed look with an eyebrow raised in incredulity. "Really? You expect me to believe that Torchwick would keep a record of things he's done?"

"He's a complete narcissist." Frost said as though this were the most obvious fact in the world. "Why wouldn't he want to detail every single mission he goes on or sends people on and how great he is compared to everyone else."

"…If that really is what you say, then I'll take it to Ironwood with my team and we'll explain the situation for y-"

Her response was immediately but off by Frost stepping back from Blake with his left arm slightly raised; a faint glow now beginning to form on his bracer and arm. "Not happening. This book stays in my possession until it gets to Ironwood." Frost pointed his unhindered arm behind Blake before continuing. "If you won't let me meet him, then I'm going to have to force you to let me pass and then we'll never see each other again once I've passed the book along. I can promise you that much."

Blake steps back and releases the smaller weapon from inside the large metal sheath, both weapons now trained on Frost. "I can't do that. My team has been hurt or at risk too many times when Torchwick gets involved for something like this to just simply walk by. If you won't give me the book, I'll just have to take it."

"We don't have to fight, you know." Frost stated bluntly as he carefully placed the book back into his jacket before drawing his own sword. "I don't want to hurt you by accident like I've done to others trying to help them. But if I have to force my way through, I will."

Blake's gaze hardened as she and Frost began circling one another, weapons drawn but neither choosing to make the first move. The sound of the wind whistling around the buildings filled the air as life carried on as per usual out on the nearby streets. The two continued this pattern for a few moments as both considered their best course of action. Frost attempted to find an opening in Blake's stance to slip past her without clashing weapons while Blake sought to find an opening in Frost's stance to try and knock him out quickly to avoid a prolonged skirmish.

In the end, Frost chose to make the first move, resorting to the same tactic he had used to escape Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury only days prior. Unbeknownst to Frost however, Blake's heightened sense of hearing due to the Faunus ears hidden in her bow allowed her to lash out towards him as he attempted to dash past her in the large mist of ice. Frost and Blake's blades clashed with a sharp ping, alarming any people that were currently waking past said alleyway. As the two began to bob and weave within the large cloud, people began to run away from the sounds of the fight coming from the passage.

For a few moments, the only sounds were that of clashing steel within the large cloud before both parties exited the cloud on opposite sides before Frost unleashed a burst of ice wildly through the cloud, dispelling any remaining mist as a chunk of ice narrowly passed Blake's side, leaving a cold feeling as it passed. Blake then began to press the attack, swinging her dual weapons in tandem as she attempted to land a strong blow to Frost's head. Frost managed to block most of the attacks with his own sword and bracer before having to power his legs with his Semblance as his back reached a wall to leap upwards and escape the close quarter's confines he had been put into. As Frost sailed through the air towards one end of the alley, he fired a quick blast of ice from his bracer which managed to catch one of the Blake's arms and pin it and her hand to the wall itself.

Blake then switched her still usable weapon to its gun-form before peppering bullets in Frost's direction, forcing him to take a few brief hits along his body as he dropped to the ground in a crouch, setting his sword down at the same time. Just as Blake turned her available arm to smack at the ice encasing her one hand to free it, Frost quickly stood with both arms raised above him.

"Stop it!"

Frost's sudden shout immediately stopped Blake as she began to turn her now free weapons towards him, now noticing the sword lying at his feet and the nonthreatening posture he held. Her confusion was increased exponentially as she saw him once again reach for the book inside his coat and begin to walk towards her with his armored arm tucked at his side and the hand with the book outstretched towards her.

"If you really want to be the one to give the book to Ironwood…just take it." Frost stated plainly as Blake slowly holstered her weapons before starting to walk towards Frost as well. "I don't want to accidentally hurt you in our fight, and if that means trusting you to pass on the info…then I trust you. Clearly you care about your friends and teammates enough to go to this risk, and I can respect that. Can I just ask for one small favor in return?"

Blake is left without words at the sudden change in atmosphere Frost is giving off, unsure of how to respond at first, Blake shakes her head slightly before returning focus to the conversation. "…Sure, I guess."

"Can you forgive me for tricking you?"

"Wha-" Blake is barely able to start her question as Frost leaps over Blake with his now glowing legs, going off at a sprint down the alley as he flees towards the opposite end of the alley.

Frost's escape seems all but guaranteed, until Yang turns around the corner and sees him coming, running in the opposite direction of Blake as she begins to rush to catch up to his augmented dash.

"Yang, stop him!"

"On it!" Yang yells back as she unlocks Ember Celica, immediately shooting a round of fire Dust from both arms in an attempt to halt Frost in his tracks.

Seeing the incoming flames and with little time to react, Frost punches a large chunk of his remaining energy into another large ice shield to grow from his bracer, the flames and shield meeting just as the ice finishes forming and a large cloud of steam and smoke are released from the ensuing collision. As the cloud clears, Frost can be seen fanning smoke away from his face, small signs of singed hairs lying on both the top of his head and his eyebrows.

"Note to self: the shield is great from blocking fire from a distance, not head-on." Frost mutters to himself as he takes a personal checklist of himself. "Clothes, check. Weapons, check. Hair…slightly singed, but check. Slight tingly feeling in my right hand, che…wait, what?" Frost looks confusedly at his right hand before seeing the blackened cover and pages of Torchwick's book which had still been in his hand during the explosion of fire. "No….nononono. This can't be happening. Not now."

Frost begins to hyperventilate as Yang slowly carefully approaches him from the front while Blake stays back a ways from the scene of Frost quivering as he looks at the black mass in his hands. "Hey…you alright there?"

Frost's head immediately snaps towards Yang as she approaches, a panicked look in his eyes as he stumbles over what to say. "Yep…yep just fine…completely fine…not going to be able to explain anything without the book…but fine…yeah…"

Frost's body begins to bob back and forth slightly as the full effect of what just happened starts to sink in. "Or…probably not…" Frost's body then collapses underneath him as he faints, both from exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. Yang and Blake both look at Frost's unconscious body before glancing towards each other a few times.

"Well," Yang starts sheepishly as she scratches the back of her head. "What now?"

Blake gently leaned down next to Frost's body as she gingerly removed the book's remains from his limp hands and walked up to Yang. "We take him to talk to Ironwood like he wanted."

Yang's eyes bug out briefly at Blake's blunt statement. "What? This guy was running away from you and he WANTED to talk to Ironwood? Is he crazy?"

"Maybe, but he seemed pretty sincere when he said he didn't want to fight or when he was talking before he started to run. So we'll let him explain things to Ironwood rather than us doing it for him. Maybe then can get something from this ruined thing." Blake motioned towards the singed book as she started to exit the alley past Yang.

"And how are we supposed to get him there, exactly? I didn't exactly bring Bumblebee with us today at YOUR request."

"You'll carry him. You're the stronger one after all." Blake sniffed the air and crinkled her nose slightly as she continued walking. "Besides…he smells like burning hair."

"Oh, come on!"


	9. Chapter 9

**I didn't honestly think I'd get this chapter out before Tuesday, what with how taxing this weekend has been. But I'm here, I'm caught up on the show, and I'm eagerly awaiting more content for both the tournament as well as character development for Team RWBY. Absolutely loved the bit with Weiss and Winter in the most recent episode.**

 **Anyways, here's my most recent addition in the meantime. Hope everyone else had a pleasant and more relaxing weekend at least.**

* * *

"Ugh…man…my track record for sprints is not very good right now." Frost groaned as his eyes flickered open a few times. "That's zero for two now in staying conscious afterwards…gotta work on that." As Frost finished his monologue, he found his arms were unable to move from their resting positions on the arms of the chair he currently sat in. Upon closer inspection, metal rings appeared to be keeping his arms and legs attached to the metal surface of his chair.

"I believe I'm okay with it staying unsuccessful considering your scene in the city today."

Frost immediately jerked his head in the direction of the voice coming off to the side, at first seeing nothing but shadows and a poorly lit room with one dark window before catching sight of none other than General James Ironwood. Frost's expression wavered between anger, confusion, and fear numerous times as he attempted to wrap his head around the current situation, eventually coming to the conclusion that the two girls he had run into in the alleyway had brought him here. If that were the case however, where was…

"The book!" Frost exclaimed suddenly towards Ironwood. "Where is it?"

"If you're referring to that singed piece of leather we have in the labs, I don't know why you think it's so important." Ironwood's expression remained stoic as he paced to the opposite side of the table sitting in front of Frost's chair. "Why should we believe that something that insignificant belongs to Torchwick or even worry about him since we have him in custody as we speak?"

"If you think catching Torchwick will stop anything, you really need to consider taking military training again." Frost bluntly stated as he glared at the General. "He wasn't the only one calling the shots out there. Just the one that I got wrapped into working for. So forgive me for trying to HELP you and potentially bring in info as to potential future risks to the city and its inhabitants."

"If you honestly think I'll just fall for whatever bait you tossed at those students, boy, then you clearly overestimate yourself!" Ironwood snapped back just as the door to the room opened for a moment to let in another participant to the current discussion.

"I believe yelling at children was not something you signed on for when you joined the Atlesian military, James."

Frost then turned to see who the new speaker was, only to have his eyes widen in shock at the sight of Professor Ozpin of Beacon. At first Frost thought he was simply having another vivid dream again, until he felt the pain of his bindings as he attempted to pull free of the chair again.

"What are you doing here, Oz?" Even Ironwood seemed surprised at the third resident of the room, his shock betraying him as the expression of a cold tactician fell away.

"When I heard that a couple of my students had apprehended another criminal and returned to the campus after an interesting scuffle in the streets, I did not expect to also hear that the same criminal happened to be a young man likely around the same age using a Semblance. So I decided to come down for myself and see if this were true. It appears they are…at least in regards to it being a young man." Ozpin stated as he walked over to the same side of the table as Ironwood before sitting down at another chair and resting his mug of coffee on the metal surface.

"I could prove that I can use a Semblance too. It's a little difficult to do that when I'm chained to a chair for no good reason though." Frost stated bluntly, causing Ironwood to start moving in a way that implied a sudden response before Ozpin put up a hand to signal Ironwood to stop before crossing both hands in front of him.

"Doing that would go against the current system of law and order we strive to protect. Until you can prove that you are not a threat to us, you will have to remain attached to that chair while we speak with you about the recent incident. Is that fair?" Ozpin inquired with a subtle raise of an eyebrow as he looked directly at Frost.

"…Fine." Frost slumped into his seat a little, likely to attempt to get more comfortable for the "interrogation" he was about to receive.

"Good. Then how about we start from the beginning?" Ozpin smiled slightly as Frost began to recall the recent months.

* * *

"You honestly expect us to believe that you never meant harm to anyone when you stole from all of those stores and factories?!" Ironwood all but roared as Frost finished regaling up to his recent encounter with who he now knew as Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. "We found nearly all of them knocked out with various broken bones, fractured limbs, and mild to severe concussions every time, with very few actually uninjured at all of the scenes!"

"If anyone got hurt in any of those situations, blame the goddamn White Fang or something! I never wanted to do any of that crap in the first place and I'll keep saying it until I get it through to you!" Frost snapped back as the two locked glares until Ozpin cleared his throat briefly.

"…And you say that through all of this, it was simply because you had been training one night and gotten caught in a case of a 'wrong place, wrong time' scenario?" Ozpin inquired before taking a quick swig from his mug.

"Yes." Frost sighed out as his head slumped to the back of his chair for the umpteenth time. "I was an idiot for pushing myself too far that night, and none of this would have happened if I hadn't overdone it then."

"And what's to say it wouldn't just happen the next night, or the next week?" Ozpin questioned as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his hands in his lap. "Do you believe the same thing could have been avoided then, instead?"

"…" Frost was silent as he pondered Ozpin's words, mulling over recent events and his reactions to different things as time went on. "…No. Probably not."

"And instead of having this conversation now, we could be having it in a few days, weeks, or even months." Ozpin sighed as he stood up and walked over to look at the surface of the blackened window in front of him. "So instead of looking at what HAS happened…let's instead look at what can happen next."

"I don't see why we're still wasting our time with this Ozpin." Ironwood stated from his stationary point in the room. "The boy is clearly guilty, so let's throw him in with the rest of the prisoner's and move on to more important matters like the White Fang!"

"If we truly condemned any young folk that simply made a mistake to a life behind bars, then society would collapse at the lack of citizens to run things as we grew old." Ozpin stated as he returned to his seat and coffee mug. As he went to take another sip, he paused, finding the mug was now empty of its previous contents. Ozpin sighed briefly in defeat as he turned his gaze back to Frost. "So if we were instead to offer you a chance to walk away from all of this after you tell us anything else important, would you accept?"

"Not a chance." Frost stated almost immediately as Ozpin finished his question. This response came with inquisitive eyebrow raises from both Ozpin and Ironwood alike as both looked to Frost for an elaboration on his most recent statement.

"What I mean is: I started a lot of this. Maybe not with the attack from the mountain, or the street fight with the mech. But I did have a hand in hurting my friend, as well as…helping Torchwick resupply for the attack itself. I still feel responsible for a lot of those mistakes, and I want to take a chance and prove that I'm not as bad a person as you may think." Ironwood huffs as Ozpin gives him a brief look before motioning back to Frost to continue.

"I may not be trained as a Huntsman, or even have a full understanding of myself or my abilities. But if someone else is getting in there and trying to fix something I helped set into motion…then I want to help as much as I can. I can promise you that. Both of you."

"…Well, you're admittance seems sincere enough for us to consider your statements true. However, we do still need time to try and salvage some of the documents you brought in to validate that what you have said is indeed true." Ozpin stated as he uncrossed his fingers and got up from his chair before starting to walk over to the door of the interrogation room. "In the meantime I'm sure the General will be more than pleased to keep you comfortable in one of the detainment cells, separate from the rest of the actual prisoner's here."

"But I-" Ironwood started as he moved towards Ozpin, his words caught in his throat as Ozpin turned and simply stared at Ironwood with an eyebrow raised. "Fine."

"Now seeing as everything here appears to be in order, I must return to the campus before another food fight breaks out in the cafeteria. There are only so many times a student can be sent flying through the roof before I consider wards getting installed on the entire school building."

"What." Frost states bluntly with both eyebrows raised as the door gently closes behind Ozpin, leaving Frost and Ironwood as the only remaining occupants. There is an uncomfortable silence for a few moments as Ironwood simply looks at Frost without any sort of readable expression before he walks over to the door of the room and calling for a guard to come in.

"Just take the boy to one of the overnight cells we usually keep overly aggressive bar-goers in until we get a report from the labs…" Frost could hear Ironwood telling the guard just out of sight of the room. "Yes I know those are only for one night, but we're making an exception this time!" Frost could hear an audible groan come from the General before he left and a guard entered the room to undo his bindings and take him off to his temporary residence.

As Frost was being led down the hallway, they passed Ironwood as he watched them go by his office, his gaze unflinching as he followed Frost's every move. "Ozpin's instincts about you had better be right. Otherwise you won't find you're stay here all that pleasant."

Frost sighed to himself as he was led into his cell further down the hall, the latch of the door locking into place as he took a seat on the lone bed in the room. "It's not like the other places I've been staying lately have been very pleasant either…" Frost then closed his eyes as he turned to lie on the rough mattress and attempt to get some rest after the roller coaster of events he had recently been on.

"But I hope so too."


	10. Chapter 10

Three days.

That's how much time Frost had recently spent in his detainment cell. His only visitors in that time being the occasional guard doing rounds to keep prisoners sustained with meager meals that tasted of stale bread and dried up fruit, and once or twice where Ironwood would pop by to ask a question or two of Frost while Frost asked if they'd had any luck recovering any information from the book's remains. Frost answered the General's questions in short, concise statements in his efforts to minimize how much he relived certain events in his mind later. It never helped.

Without anyone to talk to regularly, or anyway to occupy his time elsewhere, his mind wandered to that of Neo and her isolation with that of the remainders of the White Fang, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. If he was lucky they might still be close by the old warehouse on the docks; but considering the luck he'd had recently in regards to his efforts to fix things…they would probably already have relocated to an even more isolated location. Probably a spot even Torchwick might not be aware of.

Torchwick. Any time the man's name or face crossed Frost's mind it took every ounce of his restraint to not start punching craters into the walls of his cell out of frustration. The only thing that gave him even a smidgen of peace was the fact that Torchwick himself had been captured before Frost arrived here, and so already was likely paying for some of his crimes. Even if it was due to darker thoughts, Frost at least got some guilty pleasure out of that fact.

His inner thoughts this day were interrupted however as the door to his cell rattled open, shaking him from his present state of mind to look up at whoever would be opening his door. His eyes widened slightly at the reappearance of Ozpin, whom he hadn't seen since their interaction in the interrogation room a few days prior.

"Professor?" Frost asked incredulously, unsure whether or not this was just his mind playing a cruel joke on him or not. "What's going on? Normally all that gets opened is the slot for food delivery, and even Ironwood just talks to me through the bars rather than coming into the cell. What're you doing here?"

"I believe it would be easier to answer you if you follow me." Ozpin stated as he started to turn from the now open door. "There is a fair bit to talk about, and it would be much simpler to say on the way rather than doing so here, first."

With that, Frost got up from the rough mattress gently, avoiding making any sharp or sudden movements in case this were some sort of elaborate ruse meant to test his innocence or just someone playing a twisted prank. With no signs of interference at the door, even with a few guards stationed throughout different parts of the hallway they were in, Frost stepped out of his cell and began to follow the headmaster of Beacon.

For a few moments there was nothing but an awkward silence as the two men walked down the hallway, until Frost chose to finally speak up. "So…you mentioned something about some rather wordy information, or something?"

"Indeed." Ozpin stated plainly as the two continued their pace. "It seems that James and his scientists from Atlas may have finally managed to recover some details from the book that was brought in by the young huntresses and yourself. He hasn't yet said what that information is, but I believed you might like to be there when he shares." Ozpin briefly turned an inquisitive eye to Frost as he continued, "Would I be wrong in assuming that?"

"Not really." Frost stated as he scratched a hand across the back of his head. "To be honest I'm quite thankful that you thought of that. I wasn't sure how much longer I could take in there without getting cabin fever or something like that." Frost's expression saddens as he glances towards the floor slightly. "I've had a lot of time to think…and I'm honestly glad for the freedom from my own thoughts for once. Maybe I'll actually get good news for once."

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see then, won't we?" Ozpin smiled slightly as the two turned to face the hallway again. The two were interrupted moments later, however, by a door to one of the interrogation rooms slamming open suddenly and Ironwood himself immediately stepping out of the room with a deep frown on his face.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow as the General glanced at the two of them on their approach down the corridor. Ironwood sighed deeply for a moment before shaking his head and continuing in the same direction Ozpin and Frost had been heading before two guards were seen carrying out whomever Ironwood had been questioning. The moment Frost saw the man the guards were hauling out, he felt his blood boil and his muscles tense as he clenched his fists into balls at his sides.

The prisoner that they were escorting happened to be none other than Roman Torchwick.

As soon as the guards turned and started walking towards the two of them, Frost could overhear Torchwick's voice as he attempted to mingle with the guards. "Come on guys, there's no need to be so pushy here. We're all civilized people. You two just prefer a little more discipline in your lives while I prefer being a bit more spontaneous."

"…yeah, if spontaneous meant being a colossal asswipe." Frost muttered to himself as they passed.

"What's this?" Torchwick exclaimed…almost gleefully…as he overheard the quiet words issued forth. "Am I imagining things or is one of my _favorite_ guys here with me in the flesh?" Torchwick turned sharply while being led by the guards to see Ozpin and Frost both looking at him, though Frost only did so with a sideways glance fueled with pent-up anger and frustration that was almost palpable in the air around them.

"Stow the crap Torchwick. I'm not the one being led around by guards like a prisoner right now, am I?" Frost retorted as Torchwick's look immediately twisted to a more sinister expression.

"Fine then." Torchwick replied. "But answer me this: Where's your friend Neo? She didn't get hurt in the train crash did she? I would feel _so_ bad if she were caught up as a casualty in that tragic accide-"

Torchwick's words were immediately silenced as Frost's glowing fist slammed into his head from the side, knocking him from the grasp of the guards as Frost pounced on top of him, both arms tensed and glowing as he glared at Torchwick with an almost rabid look in his piercing blue eyes.

"Say one more word! I dare you, you lying sack of shit!" Frost roared as he cocked one arm back and punched Torchwick squarely in the face, a resounding crack issuing as a part of the floor behind Torchwick's head spider webbed and a small trail of blood slid down his forehead. "I know all about the drug and the journal, so don't try and play pretend with me! I know what you want out of this, and there's no way in hell I'll let you get there! Especially with Neo wrapped around your finger!"

Frost's assault on Torchwick would have continued had he not felt the presence of a pair of hands tightly holding each arm in place as he struggled to beat up Torchwick further. As he turned to snap at the guards to let go of him, he caught sight of Ozpin, still in the same place he had been since Ironwood had started walking away. He felt his Semblance deactivate and his arms slacken as he saw the hint of disapproval in Ozpin's eyes before slowly getting back up and slowly traipsing up the Ozpin with his head bowed slightly.

Torchwick cackled briefly as the guards picked him up again and started to carry him away once more. "Running away again, huh? When are you going to learn that your own failures won't go away if you ignore them!"

"I'm not ignoring my failures…" Frost mumbled to himself as his fists clenched at his sides again with a soft glow, Ozpin's eyebrow rising slightly as Frost took a deep breath. "…I'm just starting to realize that I've been obsessing over the wrong parts of them that I couldn't fix rather than what I can actually do something about."

Frost then started to walk past Ozpin as the headmaster smiled slightly, turning to follow the young man to their destination.

* * *

A few minutes later, after taking a few twists and turns through the facility, the two of them came upon a large set of double doors with a sign above them saying FORENSICS AND RESEARCH before pushing open the doors and entering a large room filled with assorted pieces of forensic equipment. After gazing around the room, Frost's eyes fell upon Ironwood as he stood over a large lit-up table, with Ozpin just stepping up next to him as the two examine the surface. Frost steps forward to join the two, his eyes immediately widening as he sees what Ozpin and Ironwood were looking at.

"It's here…it's all here." Frost muttered in shock as he saw different segments of text from the book, some in entire pages while others were in smaller segments- likely from pages that had been more severely damaged in his scuffle with Yang and Blake. "…Well, most of it is at least."

"To be honest, we're surprised that we were able to get this much out of it after the last few days the forensics agents spent going over every scrap of the book." Ironwood stated as he gestured over to a particular segment of the table at a few specific passages. "I think you might want to read the ones over there, though."

"Ok?" Frost answered incredulously as he walked over to that part of the table before reading the passages Ironwood had gestured to. As his eyes skimmed over the words before him, they widened little by little as a smile began to etch its way across his face. "…It's here! Everything about the drug and Torchwick pulling us along, everything! I told you I was innocent…ish." Frost shrugged at the raised eyebrows from both Ozpin and Ironwood.

"Yes. It does prove it. But it also proves something worse." Ironwood stated bluntly.

"Indeed. Up until now, there were no recorded instances of scientists being able to do anything with the remains of any defeated Grimm, and not for a lack of trying." Ozpin stated wisely. "Many had given up on the research, deeming it a waste of time and resources to come up with nothing. When it was reported that someone had come up with a use for the Grimm remains, the research was cancelled by government intervention soon after with the results deemed unethical and not allowed to be used for any purpose."

"And now we know why." Ironwood declared with a shake of his head. "Mind control…until now people thought it a myth. Something that many criminals claimed to have been put under when working for worse than themselves, or by those that needed a scapegoat to escape their poor decisions." Ironwood walked slowly around the table before stopping next to Frost. "The question is- how were you able to avoid falling to it as well?"

"I guess that part of the book didn't get salvaged, huh?" Frost asked briefly as Ironwood responded with a shake of his head. Frost sighed before continuing, "All I know is that it has something to do with my Semblance. I've always been a faster healer than most people with Auras are recorded to be able to do so, and I've never gotten sick a day in my life. Supposedly it has to do with the way my energy bursts work since I can also use them as a means to give myself a type of adrenaline rush. It somehow worked in the background on any size of dose they attempted to give me and eliminate any traces of it from my system before they took effect."

"In that case then," Ozpin started as the two looked over to him, his hand raised to his chin in thought as he continued to look at the table. "Any person able to manifest either a larger Aura than usual, or those that have an ability that directly affects their body's internal systems could be immune to its effects as well?"

"Ozpin, you can't honestly be thinking of sending some of your students to fight the remainder of Torchwick's forces." Ironwood exclaimed in a slightly less-robotic tone. "This is a job for my soldiers and the police, not a bunch of hunters and huntresses-in-training."

"I never said that, James." Ozpin stated as he glanced at the General. "I'm simply hypothesizing should the need arise for any hunters or huntresses to get involved should something like that become more widespread."

"That won't happen if I can help it." Ironwood stated plainly as he stepped over towards Ozpin, a gentler look adorning his face as he approached. "Let them train for their fights with the Grimm out in the world, and leave the more domestic things inside of the kingdoms fall to people like myself and my soldiers."

"I will not get involved if I do not see it as necessary. You have my promise on that, General." Ozpin stated as he placed a hand on Ironwood's shoulder.

"Thank you, Oz."

"…Not to interrupt or anything here…but what happens now? Where do I go?" Frost asked bluntly as the two looked over towards him. "I'm all fine with being proven innocent and all, but if Torchwick's forces are still out there with my friend, I intend on finding her and bringing her back in one piece away from all of that crap if you don't mind."

"You've proven that we can trust you outside of these walls when it comes to the general populace. The problem with letting you go around hunting them could, however, interfere with my forces efforts to try and flush them out. We never caught all of the White Fang members involved with the Breach, so we know there are many still out there biding their time until the gather again for whatever else they have planned." Ironwood took a deep breath as he placed a hand on his forehead. "And even though we have more dirt on him, Torchwick refuses to give us anything at this point, so he'll likely remain in his cell until we decide on some other way to deal with him."

"I believe I might have a suggestion." Ozpin stated as he gained the attention of Frost and Ironwood. "It appears to me that you're abilities, while quite unique," Ozpin started as he looked at Frost, "also require some refinement, and possibly a better focus for using them. While the General has his forces scouring the area in their efforts to find the rest of the guilty party's involved, you could come to Beacon and hone your skills for a time until more news is found. I believe that if you wish to fight the very people holding your friend captive, you will need to keep on top of your talents, hmm?"

"Ozpin, you can't seriously be thinking of letting him join the assault when we do find out where they are?" Ironwood declared incredulously as he turned to face the headmaster of Beacon. "He's just a boy!"

"He is a boy, yes." Ozpin stated. "But he is also a very mature young man that has been thrust into life with a much higher set of expectations most people his age ever have to deal with. The best way for him to deal with those issues is to be directly involved in the efforts to resolves them. Wouldn't you agree?"

"…I suppose." Ironwood resigned as he stepped over to a nearby table, grabbing what Frost noticed as his sword and gauntlet that had been apprehended when he was first brought in during his unconscious state. "In the meantime, we will have these tools sent to the academy where they can be kept with the rest of the students weapons in the event they are needed for anything." Ironwood turned to face Frost as he finished. "But even though you've proven that we can trust you around the citizens of Vale, you won't need these unless Ozpin or any of the other faculty deems it necessary to give them to you. Understood?"

"It's all I can ask for at this point." Frost stated plainly as he turned to bow slightly to Ironwood, followed by Ozpin. "All in all, I really do need to thank you both for the second chance. I honestly didn't think I would be this lucky when things came down to it."

"I wouldn't be so quick to thank us just yet." Ozpin stated with a small smile. "Just because we're letting you stay at Beacon doesn't mean we won't be attempting to hone your abilities like we would any other hunter-in-training."

Frost chuckled lightly as a hand found its way to the back of his head once again. "Probably shouldn't start counting my chickens before they hatch then, huh?" Frost's expression brightened as he and Ozpin departed from the large fortress that Ironwood presided in.

Ironwood watched as the two of them left, turning immediately to the table with the digital remnants of Torchwick's journal scattered across it. "Now…to find out where that old research for that drug came out of so we can put it to a stop." His hand found its way to his chin as he pondered on his and his army's next approach.

* * *

 **Bit of a different AN, given how I have it following the chapter rather than coming before it. Mostly just so that I can go over a few things.**

 **Originally, I had intended Yang to be a bit more antagonistic back in Chapter 8 with how I had oriented this story prior to a couple tweaks. Then I realized that it would be a lot more likely I would write her OOC if I did that so I've changed how a couple of the interactions with her will be like in future chapters. Personally I'm glad I changed it given how Yang is one of my favorite characters.**

 **The other thing I wanted to mention was a brief thank you to those reading the story so far. Of the reviews and reads I have gotten, it has been great to get some of the positive responses you guys have had, whether its a review saying that you like things so far, or jut something as simple as a follow or a favorite. It really makes me happy to realize that this isn't something I'm wasting my time on given how people are genuinely enjoying taking time out of their day to read these.**

 **This last thing is a bit of a personal indulgence. Of those reading this story for a while or those a bit newer to the tale, I have a small favor to ask. I am by no means an artist (frankly I am terrible with drawing in general), but I'm thinking of changing the cover picture for the story. As it is, I'm okay with the current image because it's pretty much to a T what I see Frost's symbol being. If any of you are good with digital art, or know someone that is, I was hoping to get some stuff done for both the story itself as well as for my character personally.**

 **You don't have to respond to the last one if you don't see any relevance to it. Mostly just me rambling a little bit. Either way, thanks for the views and favs, folks! Hope you keep liking how things go!**


	11. Chapter 11

"So…are just addicted to coffee or something?" Frost asked carefully as he and Ozpin were travelling to Beacon via airship.

"I find that it helps me deal with the day-to-day responsibilities of being one of the people that trains the next age of our protectors." Ozpin stated as he took a sip from his newly refilled mug. "After a while the task can be a little much to take in, and this is hardly a worse habit than other things one could do to relieve any stress, wouldn't you say?"

"Meh." Frost bluntly replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "Generally I just scream and fire off a portion of my Semblance into the air or at something that wouldn't be missed if I broke it if I get that stressed out."

"I feel like an approach like that might be why we're having this conversation in the first place." Ozpin stated as he finished giving Frost an inquisitive look.

"Hehe…" Frost replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "…you…wouldn't be entirely incorrect in that assessment. Let's just say that I get a little intense when I get either caught up in a fight or strung up."

"Have you considered talking to those around you about these things at all?" Ozpin asked curiously with a tone that implied that he was both genuinely interested and concerned about Frost's method of stress relief.

"Considering that Neo is the only real person that I ever got to trust like that given how most of the other orphans were a least a couple years younger than us, and the whole fiasco with Torchwick and the White Fang?" Frost asked as he looked out the window with a look of remembrance. "Not really interested in overloading the one friend I have with all of my emotional baggage. Not exactly good for a relationship."

"Interesting…" Ozpin replied as the airship began its descent into the airfield just outside of Beacon Academy.

As the two got up to depart from the airship once it had landed, they made it a little ways away as the ship picked up to head back to the city proper before Ozpin reached into his cot with his free hand and pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary scroll. To Frost's confusion, instead of going to turn it on, he instead extended the scroll to Frost as though giving it to him. At the sight of the perplexed teen, Ozpin chuckled lightly before explaining why exactly he was giving it to Frost in the first place.

"You do realize that the scroll you had before doesn't have a map of the school grounds on it, I hope. It might be rather difficult finding your way around for a little while without some directions to assist you." With a look of understanding, Frost then reached towards Ozpin's hand to grab the scroll, but was stopped as Ozpin pulled the scroll away for a moment, once again to Frost's confusion. "But I need you to make me one small promise."

"Ok?" Frost asked with an unsure look on his face at the headmaster's sudden change in attitude. One moment it seemed like they were just having a casual conversation, the next Ozpin is turning up the serious factor by at least threefold.

"Once I give this to you, you are essentially promising to stay on the school grounds until I state that you are otherwise allowed to go out anywhere else." Ozpin's expression was frighteningly serious as he continued, his voice and gaze never once wavering. "You may have been able to convince the General and I that you are in fact innocent of the many crimes Torchwick himself has committed. But you have still acted as an accomplice to many of his other actions despite being in a less than ideal situation. So for the time being you will need to stay on campus under a form of probation until we can assume that you won't cause anything harmful for the other students here. Understood?"

"I don't really have a choice on this, so why even ask if I'm going to do something so boneheaded?" Frost asked with a small shrug as he looked away from Ozpin for a moment to examine the school grounds briefly before returning his gaze to the headmaster, his expression once again a mask with an inquisitively raised eyebrow. "I-I mean, o-of course I'll do my best to fit in!" Frost said as he suddenly saluted the headmaster, the intensity of his gaze chilling to his skin as Ozpin leaned back into a more casual stance with a chuckle.

"That's good." Ozpin replied as he began walking off towards the large clock tower in the centre of the Academy. "Oh, and a word to the wise? It might do to find more people to confide in. I've seen many students attempt to get through difficult ordeals on their own and it often goes less than ideally for them in the end. Those that trust in those around them to help when they need it, however? I've seen them go above and beyond the call of huntsmen on a daily basis. Food for thought." Frost pondered Ozpin's words for a few moments before noticing the time on his new scroll before he hastily pocketed it.

"There is no way I'm missing some freshly cooked food after the crap I've had to eat the last few months! This guy needs to get some meat on his bones again!" And with that, Frost sped off towards what his scroll had shown was the cafeteria, his legs glowing ever so slightly as he sped past a few students that had to scramble to avoid being bulldozed by the hungry new attendee of Beacon.

* * *

"Hmm. Decisions, decisions." Frost pondered as he looked between two different trays of food before him. On one lay a plate with a hearty helping of a beef stew in a bowl and a fresh steamy roll sitting next to it. On the other lay a piece of beautifully grilled chicken with some freshly cooked potatoes and vegetables. It was though the universe sought to tease him, forcing him to decide which of the wonderful meals he wished to partake in while denying the privilege to the tray he declines. "God why does choosing what to eat have to be so hard when it's actually good food for once."

"Personally I would take the chicken, since it's way better for if you're about to go out on a mission or about to get into a fight since the beef stew is way heavier on the digestion." A male voice sounded from just behind Frost as he glanced back to see who was speaking. When he turned he came face-to-face with four students in their school uniforms. All of them looked to be about his age, with two of them being boys, one with a slightly messy mop of blonde hair on his head and blue eyes while the other had dark, black hair with a single strand of pink and a small ponytail descending from the back of his head as well as pink eyes. The other two appeared to be girls, one of them with a long red ponytail and some sort of tiara in her hair with her bright green eyes, and the other with a short-cut orange haircut and bright teal eyes that seemed to be bugging out as she eyed the food just past Frost.

"Okay?" Frost started as he began to reach for the tray of chicken and vegetables, his progress halted as the orange-haired girl suddenly interrupted.

"Jaune, we all know you prefer the chicken due to your weak stomach. You're never gonna get any meat on those bones though if you don't eat more stuff like beef stew!" Her excitement drew a few sets of eyes from some students also currently in the cafeteria before they returned to their meals, the antics of said girl apparently the norm for this kind of thing.

Frost would have continued to watch the current escapade of the two students debating over which meal would be better while the other two acted as mediators as though this were a normal thing, had it not been for the appearance of the two girls he had run into back in the streets of Vale as they entered the cafeteria with two other girls, the first two easily recognized by the large volume of yellow hair and the rather large black bow atop equally black hair. "You know what, I think I'll take the stew. K, thanks, bye!" Frost stated quickly as he turned and grabbed the tray before quickly shuffling off to a faraway table from most of the crowd in the large building.

Frost breathed a sigh of relief as he managed to just avoid being seen by the last two people he currently wanted to deal with before he eventually sat down and began to enjoy the meal before him. As he took his first bite, his eyes lit up briefly as he experienced his first well cooked meal in at least a month or two. So engrossed in eating his newfound ambrosia was he, that he failed to notice the group of four people he'd met while debating his food choice and the group that happened to include Yang and Blake spot him from afar, their own meals now collected as they sought a place to sit. Frost was not aware they had seen him until he heard and felt the shifting of metal as trays and seats were moved about around him.

Frost looked up as he broke from his food trance as he looked around at the people seated around him. To his sides appeared to be that of the group he had been speaking to, with the other group sitting across from him. Yang herself appeared to have a slight smirk on her face while Blake had a look of minor apprehension as she occasionally looked between Yang and Frost. The rest sat in varying degrees of discomfort while one of them- this one with a mop of dark hair with red tips and a cloak of all things blissfully ate her own meal, completely unaware of the tension around her.

Frost took the first step as he returned his glance, hesitantly, to the blonde in front of him. "Can I…help you with something?" He asked cautiously before looking to the rest of them for answers.

"Yep!" Was the only reply Yang gave as she completely ignored the food in front of her, instead electing to simply eyeball the boy in front of her as he sheepishly looked from person to person.

After a few more moments of tension, the white haired girl across the table huffed out a low breath. "For goodness' sake Yang, just get on with it already!" The white-haired girl grumbled slightly before daintily picking into her own portion of chicken and vegetables.

"Fine. Have it your way Weiss." The blonde responded as she looked back at Frost. "So…how did it go with Ironwood?" Yang's bubbly smirk refused to dissipate in the slightest as she looked on at Frost.

Frost groaned inwardly as he gently dropped his spoon into the half-eaten bowl of soup before giving Yang a half-glare before responding. "About as well as you'd think given how the book I was GOING to give him was half-ashed when he got it! Something that wouldn't have happened had you elected to simply deck me instead of throwing a ball of fire AT MY FACE!" Frost looked around suddenly as he noticed that the building had become increasingly quiet after his brief snap at Yang. Upon gazing around the room he noticed that nearly every table of students had chosen to look in this direction to see what the cause of the suddenly loud noise was before slowly returning to their meals, some sustaining their gazes a little longer as they hesitantly went about their own business.

"Geez, don't need to be such a…hard _ash_ about it." Yang stated bluntly as the rest of the table groaned around her and Frost.

"Was that…a pun?" Frost asked incredulously with an eyebrow raised as he began to give Yang the stink eye.

"Oh, here we go…" The black and red-haired girl stated quickly before looking away awkwardly. The rest of the table also had various degrees of pained or displeased expressions as Yang simply continued to level a smirk at Frost's face.

"…Because normally I would applaud the effort that you went to for that one." Frost stated bluntly as the table shared a sudden motion of quickly turned heads as they all looked at Frost's small smirk. "Normally I would…if it wasn't because you made it difficult in the first place when I tried to explain myself to the General and your Headmaster. So for now…I'm gonna say that was in poor _taste_." Frost stated as he slowly ate a spoonful of stew before setting his spoon back into the bowl and gently pushing away from the table as he started to walk away, but not before a few parting words. "Especially with how good the food is. Too bad it's ruined by the company."

Weiss immediately got up to reprimand Frost for his behavior, were it not for the black and red-haired girl's timely intervention to calm her down. "Here isn't probably the best place for that, Weiss. We don't want another food fight on our hands. I think Glynda is still upset about last time."

"I'd go with Ruby on this one, Princess." Yang stated as she watched Frost leave the building swiftly, Weiss' only response being a brief huff before everyone carefully went about eating their meals. "Besides, I bet we'll run into him again at some point."

"Maybe next time we can avoid interrogating him, Yang?" Blake asked as she broke her own silence that she had been holding on to. "I think he's probably had enough of that with dealing with Ironwood for a few days."

"You're probably right." Yang shrugged before digging into her own food with gusto.

* * *

"Damnit!" Frost grumbled as he stood before the statue of some Huntsmen standing atop a pile of defeated Grimm, his fists clenched at his side as he took a deep breath. "I hoped that I wouldn't run into those two so soon after everything that happened. To be fair, I don't dislike Blake at all. She was doing her job and was likely thinking I had been sent by Torchwick or something given the scuffles they've had in the past. But I don't know what it is about Yang!" Frost stated as he marched over to a nearby bench before sitting down in a huff. "She comes off as this incredibly bubbly person, and yet she manages to crawl her way under your skin almost immediately from just talking."

Frost sighed as his shoulders and head dropped down in defeat. "Maybe I'm being a little harsh. I know she didn't mean to burn the book like that. But to make a joke about it in my face? I can't believe someone would have so little tact." Frost shook his head slightly, but was interrupted by a buzzing coming from his pocket. Upon inspection of the buzzing, it appeared as though his new scroll had already received its first message. This particular message happened to be stating that Ozpin would like a few words with him up in his office at the top of the clock tower. "Weird place for an office, but okay, I guess."

* * *

A few minutes later had Frost finishing his ascent to the office via the elevator in the building. The first thing that Frost noticed was that of the view of the courtyard of the school through the large window that looked out from the clock itself. The second thing he noticed was the fact that Ozpin was nowhere to be found. This struck Frost as odd, though his thoughts were dashed as he heard the ding of the elevator coming from behind him, Frost choosing then to turn around and see what he assumed to be Ozpin. He was instead faced with someone, or someone's, else.

"Great…" Frost groaned as he saw who had arrived by the elevator, that very group looking at Frost with varying degrees of surprised expressions on their faces. "…as if whatever you could call my lunch today wasn't bad enough."

"To be fair, we didn't exactly expect to even see you here after everything that happened in the city the other day." Blake stated as the group shuffled into the large room that was Ozpin's office. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"Already forgiven to be honest." Frost stated without emotion as he walked past the group towards the currently open elevator. "You were doing your jobs. It's as simple as that."

"I don't think you'll want to leave just yet, Mister Frost." Ozpin's voice came from another doorway as the entire group turned to face the now present Headmaster.

Yang barely failed to hold in a snort after hearing Frost's name. "Wait, his name is Frost? No wonder he was giving us the cold sh-"

"If you so much as finish that with 'shoulder' I will personally throw you out of that window over there," Frost motioned towards the large window overlooking the grounds. "And I know you can survive the fall from reading some of Torchwick's stuff before the book got torched. Even if the distance is _Xiao Long_."

"Oh good heavens there's two of them." Weiss groaned as she placed a hand on her face in exasperation.

Ruby immediately moved between the two of them, her arms flailing as Yang gave Frost a determined smirk while he returned he gaze with an equally strong glare. "Stop it you two! Now isn't the time! The Professor wanted to tell us something if we're all here!"

"Very astute of you, Ruby." Ozpin began as he slowly walked over to his desk before taking a seat at it carefully as he clasped his hands together before him. "There is in fact a reason I brought the 5 of you here today. You see, Frost is on a temporary probation due to…recent events." Ozpin carefully stated as he had made a promise to Frost not to give away anything over his full set of circumstances leading him here without Frost himself being the one to do so. "Due to Frost's sudden admittance into the school, outside circumstances permitting, he is in need of space to live while he is here. That is why, given the fact that Yang and Blake," Ozpin states as he looks at the two girls, "are the only students he remotely knew prior to arriving here, he will be staying with the 4 of you until we are able to work out other accommodations."

The room was silent for a moment as the group of 4 girls and 1 boy processed the information that had been given to them. After a few moments of silence, it was immediately shattered by the surprised shouts of 4 female students, and a less than pleased admittance by 1 man.

"WHAT?!"

"Well…shit."

* * *

 **So, once again going with a post-chapter AN this time. Mostly because I just wanted to get a likely important bit of news out of the way before the story keeps up on its current pace.**

 **Those of you reading this likely have seen/read that I said I wouldn't be intending to use Volume 3 for material for this story. That has recently been changed in terms of how the story is going to progress. For what I have planned for at least the next 10 chapters has not changed from its current path. For anything following those, it will alter how the story continues on its route, if only to act as a means to get what I intend as a finale for the story. In truth, this story shouldn't be done, done for a couple months at least given how much I have now and how much I will likely come up with.**

 **For those curious as to why I changed my mind? Look at the 2 most recent episodes of Volume 3. It's a bit of a potato theory, but my thoughts on "Yatsuhashi" randomly being in the forest like that in Episode 4 as well as the expression on Pyrrha's face at the end of Episode 5 has me thinking that Cinder is playing some sort of game using Neo's ability with illusions. Between that and Weiss taking a faceful of fire and Dust with her aura completely depleted? Waaay too relevant to one of the things that started this whole fic in the first place.**

 **Either way, hope folks have been liking things thus far, and for those that are new? Welcome to my current RWBY project!**


	12. Chapter 12

**So here is my latest addition to this tale. I'm going to have to rely on this to get me through the next 3 weeks until Episode 7, but at least I have more than enough material to last me that time as well as getting ideas for later chapters that I don't already have planned in advance. Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Silence.

No one in the room was currently moving, and no sound could be heard aside from the shifting of the clock that the office happened to be built inside of. The girls of Team RWBY all wore expressions with varying degrees of shock while Frost attempted to hide himself as much as possible with his slouched shoulders and displeased expression. Ozpin simply chose to take a sip from his mug before setting it on his desk and resting both hands on his cane.

Weiss is the first to break the silence, as she politely clears her throat before speaking. "Excuse me if this sounds rude Professor, but why is a random boy that just showed up today on Beacon grounds going to be moving in with us, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked, Ms. Schnee," Ozpin began as he walked around his desk to stand in front of it. "You see, there's a little bit of a story, or history lesson depending on how you look at it, that I feel all of you should know about." Ozpin's eyes trail over each of the girls before moving onto to Frost, where his gaze rests for a moment, to which Frost raises an eyebrow with crossed arms.

"You see, many times in a person's life, we are faced with a decision." Ozpin began as the group looked at him all with inquisitive looks on their faces. "Many people like to believe that in the face of a difficult choice, we can say with certainty what our choice would be. But many people also are overconfident in themselves and fail to realize that you can never be fully prepared for a situation, only as prepared as you can be given the circumstances. Many people are then forced to choose the "lesser of two evils" as many have grown to call it." Ozpin pauses for a few moments to examine the looks of everyone in the room. All of them wear similar expressions- those who have been forced to make a choice, and live with the consequences that they have brought, as is shown on Blake, Yang, and Frost's faces especially.

"Often times these decisions can lead to very minor consequences, but other times it can lead to a very serious situation that could even cost you a teammate, or a friend." Ozpin pauses on Frost once again as he looks towards Ozpin in acknowledgement, nodding his head slightly as if to encourage what Ozpin was going to say next. The girls look between each other and Ozpin as they think on his words.

Ozpin then turned away from Frost and directed his attention towards Team RWBY. "Now tell me girls, if you had to choose between either stopping a dangerous threat to the population or saving your teammates, what would you choose?"

The girls look unsurely between each other as they all attempt to come up with a choice without offending either each other or saying something that could risk their enrollment depending on their wording. Ozpin takes a moment to add another piece to the puzzle the girls are dealing with. "And what if you had to decide in the span of a few moments to either fight to protect someone, or flee to save the populace?" Frost slowly walks over to look out of one of the panes of glass for the clock as the girls shrug their shoulders at each other before they turn to face Ozpin, now all noticing Frost standing by the window with a somber look on his face and his eyes crossed in front of his chest.

"Is something the matter?" Ruby asks innocently as Frost turns his head to look at all of them in turns before sighing and shaking his head slightly.

"Not right now, at least." Frost started as he turned to look out the window with a tiny smile. "Just glad that none of you have ever had to make a choice like that."

"You mean you-" Yang started as she looked at Frost with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah." Frost replied with a small nod of his head. "I had to make that choice. You and Blake were the ones that ran into me a week after I made it, actually." Frost turned to face all of them, an emotionless mask now present on his face. "That book I had taken from Torchwick's stuff had a lot of information in it. There were other still around that Torchwick had worked with that didn't want me leaving with it for risk of some of the info that could get out if I did get it to anyone important. But I also knew someone that had gotten roped into working for him around the same time I did and was going to get them so we could both get away." Frost stopped to take a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"But I couldn't get to them in time." Frost looks up towards the sudden intakes of breath from the group of girls, looks of shock and grief on their faces. Frost's eyes widen in realization to what it sounded like he said. "They're not dead though!" The girls all relax and take breaths of their own as Frost continues. "I just couldn't reach them in time to get them out of there, too. I had to make the choice to leave with the book of information…or not at all. I had to leave them behind, and it tore me apart to do it."

Everyone takes note of the slight glow on Frost's arms as he shakes himself slightly to calm down, the glow fading out shortly after as well. "It was only because I had read in Torchwick's journal about some of his encounters with all of you that I had a rough idea on people to look for." Frost nodded his head towards Yang as he continued. "When you mentioned that you and Blake had been a part of taking him down and fought him on the train, I knew that I had to get ahold of one of you. Thankfully you stand out in a crowd with the getups you have."

"Says the guy with white, spiky hair and a black jacket, Mister Subtle." Yang remarked, to which Frost frowned slightly before continuing.

"Either way, it wasn't until Blake spotted me and cornered me in that alleyway that I knew I had found someone that could help. Or at least get the info where it needed to go." Frost glanced at Yang's wrists for a moment as if trying to see her gauntlets, which everyone noticed. "Unforeseen circumstances pending, of course. So that's why I'm here and not stuck in a prison cell next door to Torchwick right now."

"And we're supposed to take the words of a criminal at face value?" Weiss inquired as she glared at Frost, her previous remorse and grief gone from her face. "You stole from my father's company and assaulted innocent people regardless of your situation. Why should any of us be allowed to let you stay here?"

"If assault is attempting to minimize how many people the White Fang murdered every time we went out to get more Dust for Torchwick's plans, then give me as many charges as you want!" Frost snapped back.

"Hey! We're not the ones who knocked out guard's left and right and helped blow a hole in the mountain that allowed Grimm to flood into the city!" Yang retorted as her eyes flashed red for a brief moment.

"I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS!" Frost nearly roared as a burst of energy sailed out of Frost's arms and coursed along the floor in electrical waves for a few moments. Frost looked at both hands for a few moments in shock before clenching is fists tightly and storming between the group of girls into an elevator, immediately closing it as it began its descent towards the bottom of the building.

"Why are we letting him go?!" Yang asked loudly as she turned to start walking towards another set of doors.

"Please wait, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin stated bluntly, all of the girls turning to face Ozpin as though compelled to listen despite how things had just occurred. "Give him some time to cool off. He has been under an immense amount of strain and pressure recently, and I doubt many of you would be in such a pleasant mood if any of you had been unable to properly relax or enjoy life for a few months while running from the authorities and constantly having to defend oneself."

All of the girls look at each other before nodding to Ozpin as the slowly walk over to the set of doors Yang had been approaching, taking their time to wait for an elevator to arrive.

"Why now?" Frost seethed through clenched teeth as he held his fists tightly in front of himself, glaring at them as though trying to melt his own appendages in his frustration. "I thought I was getting things under control, so why did this have to happen now of all times?!"

Frost took a deep breath and unclenched his hands before resting both of them on the statue in front of him, his musings and walking having carried him to the statue in the centre of the grounds depicting the Hunters atop a pile of defeated Grimm. His voice is somber as he mumbles to himself, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Why? Why is it every time I try to help someone, or explain things, that I manage to lose my composure and flare up, time after time? Am I nothing more than a bomb simply waiting for the command to blow up and hurt someone else around me? Will I ever actually be capable of protecting people without still managing to hurt them in the process?" Frost looks up towards the figures atop the Grimm, attempting to see himself in that same position. His attempts at visualizing this are interrupted by an all too familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Oh my. I didn't think we'd see the day where Frost would ever step out from his own shadow."

Frost's expression hardened as he turned to face Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, all presently wearing their stolen Haven uniforms. Emerald and Mercury both smirk as Frost's gaze glosses over them before it stops on Cinder, whose smirk never falters one as she approaches him slowly. Frost's gauntleted arm tightens as his right hand starts reaching for his sheathed sword, an expression of disgust present on his face.

Cinder waves a finger disapprovingly as she places one hand over the handle of Frost's weapon, the clicking sound of her tongue the first sound out of her mouth. "I don't believe drawing a weapon on a student while present on Academy grounds would go over well, do you?"

Frost slowly lowers both arms to his side, the glow in both of them never ceasing as he clenches and unclenches both fists as he glares at the three of them. "What do the three of you want? I think you've done enough to ruin my life and that of the city, thank you very much." Frost smirks as his glare continues. "How ARE those plans going by the way? Any other unforeseen roadblocks interfering with your schemes given how grand the train attempt went?"

Cinder laughs lightly as she continued to smirk at Frost. "Torchwick did his part, as badly as it was performed. Now it's up to the rest of us to act on the remainder of our plans, with or without him. He's not the only one familiar with being left behind, anyways. I believe you had something to do with that this time."

Frost's eyes widen slightly before his glare intensifies on Cinder, specifically. "What have you done to her?!" Frost's mouth nearly foams with spit as he hisses out these words t Cinder, who simply continues to hold her present expression before backing up to just in front of Emerald and Mercury, once more.

"Nothing harmful at least." Cinder replied in an uninterested tone as she examined her hands. "If anything we had to console her quite a bit when she found out that her dear friend had deserted her in his escape after promising to take her with you. What kind of friend does that?"

Frost stepped forward threateningly, to which Mercury and Emerald immediately move in front of Cinder defensively with smirks on their faces as well. Frost glared at each of them before redirecting his attention to Cinder. "You know full well that isn't the case. I was getting her out of there and off that drug you still have her going on just to keep her cooperative."

"Well for the time being she is perfectly safe." Cinder stated as she stopped smiling and simply directed her neutral gaze directly towards Frost. "But if we find out you ratted us out, or said something we could take as incriminating, I can't promise how well we'll treat her then. Might want to keep that in mind until your little charade runs its course."

Frost glared at the three of them as they departed, waiting until they are out of sight before he swing his uncovered hand into the base of the statue, causing a loud cracking sound to emanate for a moment as a few large cracks appear where he punched it before a lone tear fell to the ground between his feet.


	13. Chapter 13

**So...I'm personally very proud of myself for this chapter. When I started to write it I never thought it would get as long as it did, but as I kept writing it I couldn't get myself to stop. People will notice that I am a bit more liberal with the breaks in this chapter, but that is to manage differing perspectives as things in this chapter go on. I hope people like this one, but either way thanks for reading up to this point!**

* * *

"No one else is at all weirded out by all of this?" Yang asked the rest of the group standing in the elevator as it descended back to the base of the tower. They had given it a few minutes, at Ozpin's suggestion, to let Frost cool off before having him go with them to one of the school's facilities once they found him. Ozpin needed to head over there and prepare a few things while the girls went searching for Frost, to which he had taken a different lift down than the girls when they all decided that it had been enough time to wait.

"A lot of the things we've done in the last few months would be considered weird, Yang." Weiss commented curtly as Blake and Ruby nodded in agreement. "Between the initiation upon reaching Beacon, our classes, the tests, the trips, and some of the run-ins we've had with criminals recently, our lives as Huntresses has been nothing but unpredictable."

"Isn't it great?!" Ruby squealed as the lift came to a halt and the doors gently slid open before them. "We're not even done our first year of training, and we're already kicking butt and taking names! Just like real Huntresses would!"

"I'm pretty sure most of those in training wouldn't have had to try and stop a train leading Grimm into the city or a large-scale Dust heist on the docks all in the span of a few months, though." Blake stated coolly as they all turned to face the courtyard and a sudden snapping sound, like that of stone breaking.

"What was that?!" Weiss snapped as they all quickly hurried towards the sound they had heard, eventually coming across Frost as they looped around the statue in the centre of the large open area. They all immediately took note of the cold expression on his face, and that of his fist pliantly firmly in the statue a ways, cracks spider-webbing outwards from the point of impact. "What did you do that for?!"

"Huh?" Frost started as his expression calmed before he glanced over to see the girls all looking at him with varying degrees of shock, surprise, and/or anger. "Oh…hey girls…didn't see you there." Frost briefly struggled with his stuck gauntlet for a moment before it eventually came loose, taking a few small chunks of granite and foundation with it before he shook off any of the dust and debris. He put on a small smirk as he placed both hands calmly behind his head. "They don't make statues quite like they used to, huh?"

"Why…I…you…" Weiss stuttered as her gaze flickered between Frost, the hole in the statue, and the debris sitting at his side before she turned her steely gaze directly to Frost's cocky expression. "How dare you deface such an important monument to this school! Do you not have any sense of respect for what people do here?!"

Frost relaxed his arms at his sides as he spun and stretched out the limb that had recently been embedded in solid rock. "More than you think, actually. Hunters and Huntresses are the sole reason we're here right now, and not hiding in the woods and mountains of Remnant trying to hide from the Grimm as they pick us off, one-by-one." His emotionless expression as he stated these facts startled Weiss into silence, the girl not expecting a response like that to her question.

"Anyways…" Yang started as she moved forward slightly to gain Frost's attention. "Boxing practice aside, Ozpin needed us to bring you to one of the school's other facilities once we found you. Said he needed to prepare something and that he needed you to be there for it."

Frost waited a moment, twirling his hand slightly as if expecting more from the group at Yang's statement. "…Was there anything else?..."

"Nope. Just said that you needed to follow us once we found you. Didn't tell us what it was for, either." Yang finished as she turned to start walking off in the direction of the training facilities, Frost the only one unaware of exactly where they were going due to having only briefly looking at his campus map for getting to the cafeteria and to Ozpin's office. He still had a lot of the area to figure out before he would know exactly where he was at all times.

* * *

After the group spent a little while travelling across the campus grounds and getting a few odd looks from students as they saw the random boy walking with Team RWBY while geared up in his normal attire and weaponry as they passed. Frost's curiosity eventually got the best of him as he let out an exasperated sigh at the lack of talking before moving a little faster to get in line with the girls.

"Mind telling me where we're going at least?" Frost asked with a bored expression as he waited for one of them to respond. They never did as Ruby continued to skip happily along, Weiss and Blake walked along at a decent pace, and Yang casually took her time with her own hands behind her head as they got closer and closer to the training facility. Frost groaned as he continued to be left in the dark. "Fine. But don't look at me if I'm less than impressed by our destination. Not my fault no one told me what was going on."

The girls all exchanged knowing looks towards one another, unbeknownst to Frost as he continued to examine the school grounds during their trip. After another minute or so of travel, at which point Frost looked about ready to punch something again, they finally stopped in front of what looked like an ordinary school building, with a higher than usual roof atop it and a complete lack of windows. Frost raised an eyebrow as the girls all filed into the set of doors for the building before eventually following them inside into a dimly lit hallway. They all walked along the corridor until the came to another set of doors, these ones looking much sturdier as well as what looked like a set of large braces on each side of the door, for what purposes Frost would soon discover.

Upon opening this set of doors, Frost's jaw dropped as he gained a slightly elevated view of a large empty battlefield in the centre of the auditorium-sized room. After shaking his head to compose himself he stepped forward, past the group of girls, as he looked around to see rows upon rows of what looked like seating, and noticing numerous sets of barred off passages inside the arena itself, which was lowered a few dozen feet below the lowest row of seating, with what looked like a set of chest-high guardrails running along the perimeter of the of the field. He finally turned back to the sound of a cane and shoes tapping on hard flooring, seeing Ozpin and another woman standing with the girls of Team RWBY.

"You seem rather impressed by our training facility." Ozpin said with a small smile as he propped both hands atop his cane. "No doubt you are also curious why I specifically asked these young ladies to bring you here of all places?"

"Well it might help set my mind straight a bit right now, yes." Frost stated before taking a brief look up to find that the roof was in fact VERY high up in the air, even more noticeably so than when they were outside of its walls. "I mean, I like watching a good spar every now and then, but it's kind of empty in here right now."

"That is for a very good reason, to be fair." Ozpin started as he walked past Frost and towards the rails overlooking the battlefield below. "You see, all of the students who come to enroll at Beacon must undergo a test in the Forever Fall Forest. Upon getting everything prepared in advance, we send the new students into the forest to retrieve a set of artifacts, which helps them determine who will be teamed with whom, as well as pairing up students that first lay eyes on each other."

Frost looked at Ozpin inquisitively as the girls all smiled at each other, all of them partially prepared for the gist of Ozpin's next statement. Ozpin motioned towards the other woman, who nodded her head briefly before pulling out what looked like a riding crop, Frost's expression immediately shifting from intrigued to downright confused. His eyebrow piqued as a purple aura surrounded a faraway lever, the sound of metal groaning the next sound he heard as the field pulled away in segments and a forest-like area rose in its place.

"Okay." Frost started as he looked at the "forest" for a moment. "So I'm guessing I'm going into that forest area for a bit to retrieve something then. Small problem though." Frost looked around the room for a few moments before turning back to the rest of the group and shrugging his shoulders. "There isn't exactly another new student here for me to partner up and hunt for artifacts down there."

"That's perfectly acceptable." Ozpin stated cryptically as the blonde woman once again raised her riding crop as it began to glow purple once more. Frost's eyes widened as he began to feel like he was floating, his feet slowly leaving the ground below as he began to flail his arms and legs wildly in a panic. "You won't need to worry about artifacts anyways. This exercise will be more to test your endurance and skill in combat than anything else."

And then he fell to his doom.

* * *

…Well it was more like 50 feet, but Frost was able to think quickly and quickly draw his sword and plant it into a nearby tree as he continued his descent, the wood splintering as his sword eventually found purchase and held fast within the tall oak. He paused to take a deep breath for a moment before pulling his blade from the trunk while at the same time kicking off of towards a longer hanging branch, continuing this approach until he had safely reached the floor of the arena.

"A little warning would have been nice!" Frost yelled upwards in the hope that the words would carry through to Ozpin as he began to examine his surroundings. Unbeknownst to Frost, the rest of the current inhabitants of the facility were sitting upon a couple rows of seats, the girls crowding together as they watched the screen that had a bird's eye view of Frost as he looks around.

"So…anybody wonder how long he'll last down there?" Ruby asked apprehensively as she looked between her teammates.

"I give him 2 rounds, tops." Yang stated with a smirk as she watched the screen, eager for the ensuing fights to begin.

"I think I'll wait and see what happens since none of us actually know what he is capable of at this point." Weiss stated patiently, her analytic eyes never once leaving the screen. Blake however opted to remain silent, instead deciding to watch and see what Frost would do considering the endurance he had shown during their "brawl" in the streets nearly a week prior.

Ozpin simply glanced at Glynda, the blonde woman simply nodding again before activating one of the other levers on a console next to the lever that had altered the field itself.

* * *

The first thing Frost heard was that of a metal grate sliding open, his head turning to face the direction of the disturbance. The next thing he knew, he could hear the rustling of leaves as something moved quickly through the brush in his general direction. Frost's eyes narrowed as he raised his sword in front of him in a kendo stance, his armored hand also gripping the hilt of the sword tightly.

For a few moments there was only the sound of rustling leaves and underbrush, shortly followed by a few sharp grunts and sniffs as whatever was out there attempted to find him. Then, after a moment of silence, the bushes around him exploded. 3 Beowolves, all with their teeth bared, pounced at Frost from 3 different directions with a murderous intent in their gleaming red eyes. Frost simply stood as he had positioned himself, his eyes flicking in the direction of the one just off to his right before he moved, his body suddenly jerking entirely to the left as the other two Grimm collided with one another. Frost impaled his sword in the chest of the Beowolf he had turned to, its body immediately disintegrating into dust as it groaned out a weak cry of defeat.

Frost then reoriented himself, returning to the stance he had been using before the fight had begun. After a brief moment of deliberation, Frost dove directly forwards with his sword level held straight out at his side. Both Beowolves raised their claws as they charged as well, both of them beginning to wildly swipe with their claws in an attempt to rend Frost. At the last moment however, Frost once again changed directions suddenly, the two Grimm only finding air as Frost leaped above them, his sword swinging in a wide arc as it beheaded both Grimm as they passed beneath him.

Frost then landed on one knee, taking a deep breath as a faint glow disappeared from his legs once more, as they had when he had pierced the chest of the first Beowolf. Before he was given more time to rest however, he quickly rolled forwards as a loud thunk sounded where he had just been positioned. Upon turning around to see what had nearly reached him, his eyes widened slightly as he gazed upon a slightly larger Beowolf, this one with a few extra spines also protruding from its shoulders as well. Frost smirked slightly as he and the Grimm charged at each other with a roar.

* * *

"Well…he's certainly got some good moves out there." Weiss commented with wide eyes after having displayed the quick reactions Frost had performed, now watching intently as Frost managed to deflect a few blows from the Grimm before leaping back to a safe distance.

"Meh…it's only the first round." Yang shrugged her shoulders with disinterest. "He's not even up to the challenging fights yet. It's just a few Beowolves."

"Except he's had no experience fighting Grimm before, and even with any training he may have gotten while working for Torchwick, he's still been fighting with those weapons and his Semblance for less than a year if what we've heard is true." Blake pointed out calmly as she continued to watch the screen, Frost now egging on the large Beowolf as he dashed from point-to-point, leaving markings on the Grimm from each pass he made while the beast had no luck in landing a solid blow on the white-and-black blur.

"Does he have a Semblance like mine?" Ruby asked aloud as she watched Frost's movements as well, her eyes alight with wonder.

"I doubt it, considering he's still fairly visible when he moves." Weiss commented for a brief moment before grimacing as the Grimm managed to land a sweeping blow to Frost's chest, knocking him back a few feet as his shoes skidded on the ground in his attempt to find footing without falling over. His Aura meter diminished by a small portion as he leapt forward once more, his body jerking again at the last second as his blade cut across the entirety of the Grimm's torso, it's head raised as it too disintegrated into the air. "His movements are being altered somehow, but not through a Semblance like yours, Ruby."

"Doesn't matter now. The Beowolf round is up." Yang looked excitedly at the screen in front of them, her previous interest restored with fervor. "Next up is the Ursa!"

* * *

"Damn…those things were fast…" Frost panted out as he took a few deep breaths to cam himself and wipe a thin layer of sweat from his brow before resting both arms at his sides for a few moments. He smirked slightly as he looked upwards slightly, unknowingly looking directly at the camera that the group was examining him from. "Good thing I read up on those things when I was younger. Never thought my infatuation with wanting to hunt Grimm would pay off like this."

His musings were brought to a halt however, as another sound of something shifting open caught his attention, his body once again turning on instinct to face the oncoming threat. His breathing quickened for a moment as he felt, more than heard, the rumbling of something charging through the forest, a tree of two falling to the side off in the distant edge of his field of view. The rumbling grew louder and louder until an Ursa came lumbering out of the shrubbery, its large round body shifting slightly as it took deep breaths. It shifted its body so as to make itself appear larger before opening its mouth in a loud roar before it swung a paw at Frost.

Frost just managed to leap away from the attack with a small assistance of his Semblance, his legs barely glowing as he pushed in the necessary amount of energy to back off in time. He then drew his sword behind him as he ran at the Ursa, his body level with the ground as the Ursa roared once more before lifting both arms up to attempt to squish Frost beneath them. Frost's body jerked to the right at the last second, but not without receiving a scrape from one of the Ursa's descending arms, his Aura meter going down a bit less than when the Beowolf had landed an impact on him. He grimaced slightly as he turned his body to align his feet with the tree he was coming into close proximity with, his body perfectly plants before he kicked off, the wood splintering slightly as he extended his sword in front of him towards the Ursa's exposed back.

The beast roared wildly as it felt the searing pain of metal run along its body, its body turning sharply as it swung another paw out towards Frost's flying body. Due to him not having a surface to gain footing on, Frost curled himself into the fetal position just as the blow landed, his body sailing through the air as he skidded along the ground for a few feet, his body eventually coming to a stop as he slowly got up from his laying down position.

Frost panted slightly as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his body starting to calm down as he focused on the areas that had taken the majority of the impact. He winced slightly as the scrapes and bruises that adorned the front of him faded into his skin, the feeling slightly unpleasant as the "treatment" took effect. He then opened his eyes to see the Ursa once again lumbering towards him, its teeth bared and mouth open as though it intended to eat Frost in this attack. His smirk was larger this time as his armored hand began to glow for a moment before he swung his arm upwards, catching the Ursa's jaw with what appeared to be a claw of ice that had formed around the glowing metal of the bracer. Its body sailed backwards a few meters before it landed in a heap in the clearing that the fight had made, its chest moving weakly for a few moments before it sagged, its body meeting the same fate as the other Grimm that Frost had managed to defeat.

* * *

"Well…that was unexpected." Weiss stated with what little she could come up with, the sudden appearance of the ice claw on Frost's hand catching herself and Ruby off guard. Weiss noticed the approving smirk on Yang's face and the unsurprised look on Blake's as she turned to face her teammates. "Why do you look so pleased, Yang?"

"Huh?" Yang asked as she turned to face the person that had spoken to her. "Oh, hey Weiss. Nah, Blake and I have just seen him do something like that before when he first met him. He made some type of shield from that gauntlet last time, so I thought at first that's all he could really do with it."

"It's definitely more than just that." Blake stated calmly as she watched Frost catch his breath for another brief interlude. "He also froze my arm to a wall by shooting a cluster of ice from that gauntlet that froze on impact. So my guess is that he can do a number of things with it, depending on the situation."

"Do you think that's his Semblance then?" Ruby asked as she looked at Blake expectantly. At Blake's shrug and shake of her head, Ruby shrugged as well before returning her attention to the screen as the third indicator light came on. Her face scrunched up in worry at what this meant. "Oooh, I don't know if this is going to end so well though."

"Hah!" Yang laughed as she patted Ruby roughly on the back, the smaller girl wobbling on her seat briefly before realigning herself with Weiss' assistance. "This is gonna be more interesting than anything! I wonder how he'll take this thing on!"

* * *

Frost's ears twitched slightly as he heard a metal grate opening once again, but this time there was only silence, whereas before there had always been the rustling of the Grimm moving around. Frost focused on his surroundings as he slowly inched forwards into the brush, his sword raised and his armored hand glowing slightly as he scanned the forest for any signs of an attack. As he moved further into woods, a long black shape slowly slid behind him before once again disappearing into the foliage, a slight hissing sound passing through the air as it passed. Frost's body stopped as he heard the hissing sound before slowly turning around. His face paled as he came face-to-face…-to-face with a King Taijitu.

"Oh boy." Frost groaned to himself slightly as both heads darted towards him, his body sharply adjusting with a quick surge to his leg as they neared him so as to leap away from both attacks. His vision swam for a brief moment as the powerful surge of adrenaline got to him for a moment, his body wobbling slightly as he landed before he righted himself and once again stood in his kendo stance. He tightened his grip on the sword slightly as he released his armored hand from it, the limb already aglow with energy as he steeled himself for the Taijitu's next attack. After a few moments of the foes examining one another, the white head of the Taijitu lunged towards Frost, its fangs bared as it hissed in its approach.

Frost was faster however, as he leapt into the air and plunged his sword into the roof of the Taijitu's mouth, and pinning it to the forest floor as his blade sank into the group with a sharp stab. The second head then spurred into action, it's maw also open as it came at Frost from a slightly different angle, assuming that it was now free to attack the vulnerable prey barely paying it any attention. It's motion has halted mere feet away from Frost's outstretched and glowing metal arm as a cold feeling seeped through its entire head and it fell to the ground, the ice-encrusted head shattering upon impact with ground.

This left the white head of the snake, which was still presently pinned to the ground through Frost's original plan to subdue the beast. One thing Frost had neglected to think of however, was that the white head could still control the entire body on its own. This was the last thing he realized as the headless end of the large snake lashed out at him, knocking the air from his lungs as he crashed through a few trees, his Aura now dipping dangerously close to the red portion of the meter that had been setup to monitor him throughout the "test". The remaining head took this opportunity to dislodge the sword from its head due to Frost no longer being there to apply a Semblance-enhanced pressure to his efforts. It then bared it fangs once more as it lunged for Frost's body, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he attempted to regain his breath.

His vision swam and faded as he attempted to keep a hold of his consciousness, unaware of the impending doom as the King Taijitu's approaching head came closer and closer to his body. Just as the snake came into view and his eyes widened in the fear of the inevitable…its head suddenly snapped back as it pounded against a purple barrier that had sprung up out of nowhere to defend him. The next thing he knew there was a sharp clicking sound before the remaining head fell, its body also disintegrating before it made impact with the ground. As Frost attempted to struggle to his feet he saw Ruby running towards him with what looked like a large scythe in both hands with her face, as well as those of the rest of her team, bearing an expression of fear and worry on each of their faces.

"Are you alright?!" Ruby exclaimed as she was the first to reach him, Frost imagining a few rose petals floating by as she stopped next to his body as he continued to get his body to cooperate with him. The rest of her team soon followed, all of them examining his body for any serious injuries as they got closer.

Frost managed a weak cough as he smirked slightly, one of his eyelids bleeding slightly from being flung through the trees when a branch had scraped across his face at one point as well as a few cuts and bruises scattered across his tattered apparel. "I'm good…just a…little tired after over…exerting myself there." Frost managed to lift his head slightly, catching a glimpse of the damage to his outfit with a short laugh that turned into a cough. "Looks like I'll…need to fix my….clothes when I'm…in town next." Frost sighed for a moment as he let his head fall limply back to the ground beneath him, the grass a welcome embrace as he felt his consciousness beginning to slip.

"But first…I think I need…to rest a little bit…"


	14. Chapter 14

**So here is the follow up to Frost's little blackout after fighting the Grimm. I'm not quite as pleased with this chapter as I'd like to be,but for the purposes of the story as well as some character development, it is a necessary part of things at this point. Either way I appreciate the comments I've gotten so far and the number of people that have chosen to follow me work as things move along. It really helps me to know that people are genuinely interested in what I'm doing here.**

* * *

Darkness.

This was all that was visible to Frost as he managed to open his eyes, his body oddly lacking in any bruises or soreness after his fight with the waves of Grimm in the arena. What was also weird however were the odd sounds, almost like whispers, that seemed to be poking at his hearing from every possible angle, a dull ache beginning to form in his mind as his senses were slowly overloaded. Frost immediately ran forward in his efforts to get away from whatever was plaguing him.

The more Frost moved forward, the quieter the whispers seemed to get, and thus Frost continued his sprint through the darkness, some buildings and figures beginning to appear in the distance the further he travelled. As the buildings began to take on a clearer shape, Frost began to recognize a few buildings, the area before him becoming strikingly similar to the area of Vale that the orphanage he and Neo had grown up was located. The area became even more similar as Frost walked by what appeared to be an exact replica of the orphanage itself. There was one problem with the places that he was coming across, however.

There were no people.

Not even the sound of vehicles, of airships and trains, or even the sounds of people walking along the streets or of animals barking or screeching at one another. It was almost as though everyone had gotten up and left Vale at once, leaving everything untouched as they left. Frost's eyes darted left and right, up and down, as he tried to process what exactly was going on at the moment. His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the sharp sound of metal sliding against metal came from just down the street, Frost's ears perking immediately at the sudden noise, his body quickly turning to face whatever the sound had been. His eyes widened and face paled as he witnessed what had made the sharp sound.

It was the warehouse that had started everything that had happened in his life recently, once again in shambles and on fire.

* * *

Frost's body was a blur as he flew down the streets, his legs glowing brightly and his expression determined as he crashed through a few pieces of debris scattered near an opening to the building. The rubble moved aside easily as he plowed through it, his strong will and determination fueling his body as he leapt into the blaze. His head turned back and forth sharply as he sought any signs of life in the building, his breath quick and his heart beating rapidly amidst the chaos. A few moments later Frost heard a chuckle coming from beyond a pile of rubble, his body immediately moving to find out what the sound was.

As he climbed the large pile of debris in front of him, his hands were prodded and scraped by jagged pieces of wood, metal, even by fire. Frost did not relent in his climb however, his mind set on whatever was making the laughing sound beyond the pile, the sound of someone whimpering also beginning to sound in the distance as well. As he reached the top, his expression went from determination to that of sheer rage and murderous intent.

Directly beneath him, his weapon raised and pointed at a helpless girl, was Roman Torchwick, a mad gleam in his eyes and a wicked grin on his face as he cocked the gun built into his cane. Frost screamed in frustration as a powerful pulse of energy flew from his hands and jettisoned towards Torchwick's weapon. As the blast impacted the cane the force ignited the Dust lying dormant inside the pole, the ensuing fireball launching Torchwick in one direction and the girl in the opposite direction. As Frost leapt down and started stalking towards Torchwick's body, his left hand clenched into a fist as he picked up Torchwick by the scruff of his coat with the other. Torchwick smirked as Frost glared at the man, his eyes slowly moving to look past Frost, and at the girl that has also been caught in the explosion. Frost turned to look at the girl as well, his expression more confused than anything as to why Torchwick would so interested. His expression paled as he saw the girl's body shimmer slightly before dissolving away and reveal Neo breathing weakly on the ground, her chest barely moving and her limbs twitching slightly as she attempted to move.

Frost's arms went slack, causing Torchwick to fall to his knees on the ground, as he slowly walked towards Neo's body. Frost carefully knelt beside her, his eyes beginning to mist as she gave him a weak smile. Frost's hands clenched tightly once more as tears began to streak down his face as Neo slowly lifted a hand to his cheek, stroking it softly as the light left her eyes and her arm fell to the ground beside her limp body, her breathing having stopped due to her injuries.

Torchwick chuckled slightly, his voice seemingly a bit distorted as he casually got to his feet and picked up his cane- somehow undamaged despite what Frost had just recently done to it. " _Oh, so close this time._ " Torchwick's odd voice sounded from behind Frost as he clicked his tongue almost disapprovingly. " _If you had just been a little faster taking a trip down memory lane you might've been able to stop her from getting hurt._ "

Frost whirled to face Torchwick, his left arm flashing briefly as a bolt of energy was loosed from it, though it did nothing aside from hit Torchwick's body and fizzle out of existence. Frost's expression changed to one of bewilderment as each subsequent burst of energy he threw at the man did nothing more than the last. He eventually stopped firing off the attacks, his arms hanging at his sides as he switched tactics.

"What are you?"

" _I've been called a lot of things, by a lot of people._ " Torchwick began as he casually started to walk a large circle around Frost, everything fading into the same darkness Frost had first witnessed as he walked through piles of debris and fire. " _But most people refer to me as guilt. Others refer to me as their self-doubt. Honestly though? I'm just a creation of an overactive imagination, a person's desire to punish themselves for things that they've done or are afraid of._ "

The shadowy being, since that was what Torchwick had dissolved into as he had made his circle around Frost until everything had faded back into the darkness, stopped as he reached Neo's body, the only thing that had been untouched by the transformation of the area. " _You still feel responsible for what happened to your childhood friend, that if you hadn't been so gung-ho about training for something you could never afford, she never would have been hurt and lost her voice in the first place. But you also wonder what might have happened if you weren't fast enough or made the wrong decision- could you have killed her if you hadn't been careful as well?_ " The shadow looked towards Frost, his mind feeling that same probing feeling as his eyes met the shadowy recesses where the shadow's eyes would have been. " _And those thoughts plague you still. Along with thoughts of other events that had happened since then. Like the drug that Torchwick had dosed you and Neo with, only for your own Semblance to fight off the foreign substance and leaving Neo to fend for herself within her own mind as the compulsions took hold._ "

Frost's eyes widened as Neo's limp body suddenly shifted, her arms and legs moving in a puppet-like fashion as it righted itself. Gone were the innocent silver eyes and polite smile that Frost had more commonly seen, in its place the sadistic smirk and heterochromatic eyes that Neo only had to deal with as a by-product of her own Semblance. Frost's mind blanched as she twirled her umbrella behind her, her feet slowly carrying her towards Frost's frozen body. Frost's pupils shrank as she unsheathed the sharp blade form the umbrella's handle, her hand slowly moving so that the blade was pointed directly at Frost's exposed chest. His attention was almost entirely focused on Neo's approaching figure, the remainder focused on the shadow as it continued to speak.

" _You've been wondering for the past few days now about how long it could be before Neo was fully under the effect of the serum. How it would affect her mentally and what it would mean for your mission to save her. And every time you think about it more, you worry about what you would do if you faced her in battle, all traces of your former friend gone with nothing more than a bloodthirsty beast in front of you._ " The shadow opened its arms wide in invitation as it stood beside Neo's approaching form. " _Well here's your choice. Do you fight back and potentially harm the closest thing to a family that you've had all of your life? Or let her kill you as a last act of punishment for the things you've subjected her to?_ "

Frost's eyes darted back and forth between the shadow and Neo, his hands clenching and unclenching as he attempted to come up with a decision on such short notice, unaware of Neo's arm slowly cocking back in preparation of swinging the blade. Frost clenched his eyes tightly as he awaited the impending blow, his sense suddenly overwhelmed once more as the feeling of wind blew past his face and the sound of a weapon unsheathing sounded from _behind him_. His mind once again blanched as he turned to face whatever it was, Neo and the shadow suddenly gone as though they were never there.

Blake stood before him, Gambol Shroud drawn just like the time the two had fought in the alleyway near to the bookstore Frost had attempted to talk to Blake in. As Frost looked around, he realized that it was the exact same alleyway that had materialized around him as well, every detail in the exact same place as before with the exception of the black sky above them. Somehow there was still light as though it was the middle of the day despite the dark overhead that they stood beneath. Frost sighed as he drew his own weapons, suddenly at his side, the fight between him and Blake once again.

* * *

Frost panted slightly as he stood with a slight hunch, both of Blake's hands pinned to the wall this time. Frost sheathed his sword as he reached into his coat, finding the broken journal once again intact. Just as he reached into his coat pocket to show it to Blake however, he was interrupted by a shout coming from the other end of the alleyway- the same direction Yang had shown up from last time when he had dashed over Blake after their fight. She had arrived sooner this time, her eyes glowing red as she had witnessed Frost pin Blake to the wall and slowly approach her while reaching into his coat. Fearing the worst she released a series of powerful bursts from Ember Celica, the inferno quickly rushing towards Frost and Blake. Frost once again poured his Semblance into the gauntlet, the icy shield once again forming to block the attack. Too late however, Frost realized that this attack was much stronger than the last time, and he couldn't call on enough energy to block the full force of the attack.

So he instead pushed the energy out of the gauntlet in a large burst, with the intent of lessening the damage of the fireball and hopefully redirect its path. His plan worked, the fireball lessening in size and veering off just to Frost's right, the blast still knocking him off his feet as it collided with the wall behind him. His vision swam as he started to get up, noticing that Yang had not moved from her spot at the end of the alley but had lowered her arms limply to her side. What was even more bizarre was the far-off expression on Yang's face, as though she were looking at something for the first time. As Frost turned to follow her line of sight, he stopped as his vision came upon Blake. Or where Blake had previously been at least.

Blake's body had been completely buried in rubble, the only signs of her being the frozen patches where Frost had pinned her hands to the wall so that he could take a respite and talk. His face immediately bore an expression of fear and worry as he began to claw through the debris, his hands somehow once again unharmed despite the sharp edges of rubble and broken glass that lay atop Blake's body. He eventually exposed enough of Blake that he could place two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse…

…There was nothing but a cold, empty feeling.

Frost stumbled backwards, away from the debris as the terrain around him once again dissolved into darkness, the Shadow once again back as it stood next to Blake's buried body this time. It's head turned and Frost had to fight the urge to vomit as he beheld a dark and wispy version of his own face smiling evilly back at him.

" _You did always wonder if things could have happened differently in the alley that day. What if Yang had shown up sooner? What if you had used any number of different tactics when trying to escape? Would you accidentally hurt someone again trying to be the good guy in the situation?_ " The shadow began to slowly pace toward Frost, his arms and legs shuffling as he fought to crawl backwards away from his dark half. This only caused the shadow to walk faster as a mad glint began in his eyes. " _Even now your fear and guilt empower me! Keep digging this hole of depression and blame you've dug around yourself! Eventually you have to snap, and when you do-"_

Frost looked around confused as the Shadow suddenly melded into the darkness around them, once again leaving Frost on his own. He slowly started to get to his feet as he looked around, an expression of confusion on his face. His body suddenly froze as though it were being gripped by a gigantic hand, the Shadow's voice suddenly right in his ear.

" _i'Ll bE THerE!_ "

And then his ears screamed at him with a violent ringing.

* * *

Frost's body jerked upwards with a silent gasp, his forehead ddrenched with sweat and his heart beating a mile a minute. His eyes scanned the room he was in, his body sitting on what appeared to be a rather nice cot, with a few beds haphazardly strewn about the room. Both appeared to be variation of bunk beds, with one set put together with stacks of books for support and the other being a sort of hammock bed hung dangerously above another bed sitting on the floor. Upon closer inspection Frost noticed that Blake and Weiss appeared to be the ones sleeping soundly in the bottom beds, leaving him to assume that Yang and Ruby resided in the suicide beds that were above their teammates.

He shook his head slightly as he slowly got up from the cot, noticing that his battle-damaged coat was hung on a hook just next to the door leading out of the room. Frost took one last look around as he quietly slipped on his coat and opened the door into a dimly lit hallway, his scroll already out as he began to bring up a map for the dorms to find his way around.

What he failed to notice were the amber eyes that had darted open upon him opening the door, their gaze unblinkingly attached to him as he silently closed the door to the hallway as he left.

* * *

Frost groaned slightly as he felt his legs protest from his ascent to the large area that sat atop the dorms, his eyes flitting around the open space as he approached one end of the railed off edge. His gaze came upon the courtyard of the campus once again as he placed both hands tightly on the rails, his muscles tensing as he clenched the metal tightly without using his Semblance. His eyes screwed shut as a few tears escaped his eyes, a weak sob escaping his throat as memories of his nightmare, as well as of the actual events came back to him in a rush.

A clicking of the rooftop door snapped his attention as he whirled to face whoever else had arrived, his arm hastily wiping across his face to hide the tears he had been crying but failing to hide the redness of his eyes that they had left behind. His eyes widened slightly as he saw Blake slowly close the door behind her, the girl still dressed in her sleepwear. Frost blushed slightly as he turned around to look at the courtyard again, trying to find a way out of this situation.

"I know something's bothering you." Blake's voice came from a ways behind Frost as he refused to turn to face her. She waited a few moments before continuing. "I've seen your face when you don't think one of us is looking and I can see the pain you're dealing with. I know what it's like."

Frost whirled on Blake, his expression angry as he glared at her. "How could you know what I've gone through?! With the things I've done, I don't deserve to be here! I don't deserve any of this while the one person I promised I'd protect is still caught up in all of that crap with the White Fang and everyone else that Torchwick used to work with!" Frost snarled as he approached Blake accusingly, her stance and expression unwavering as he approached. "Torchwick was bad enough, but knowing that those so-called activists," Frost practically spat out the word as he continued, "are still able to boss them around and tell them what to do does nothing but make my skin crawl!"

Blake gives Frost a sympathetic look as she tilts her head slightly, Frost's shoulders heaving as his mouth is tightly drawn and a few tears continue to fall down his cheeks without his notice. She reaches forward and brushes one aside gently, shocking Frost out of his rage as he stumbles back a few steps as his expression returns to one of shock and confusion.

"What was that all about?" Frost asked quickly as he wiped away the other tears now that his mind wasn't clouded with anger and frustration. "I just yelled at you, directed all of my anger at you when you didn't deserve, and you do that? Why?"

Blake smiled sadly as she started to walk past Frost towards the same railing that he had been looking over. "You claim that you're the only one forced to work for people that went beyond the law? That you're the only one that's had to deal with choosing between harming innocent people or risking the safety of those you care about? I've been there as well."

"How could you though? You've never had to work for Torchwick and deal with his uncaring attitude for people- faunus or otherwise. Who did you work for that forced you to make those choices?"

"The White Fang."

"…"

"…"

"You're kidding right?" Frost stated as he looked at Blake's back with doubt. "You expect me to believe that you, an ordinary human being, worked for a group of Faunus activists that went rogue? That makes no sense!"

Frost only looked on as Blake remained quiet after his outburst, eventually making the motions of slowly moving her hands towards the bow atop her head. Frost looked on in confusion as she pulled the strings from both sides, his jaw dropping as the bow fell into one of her open palms once it was loose enough. Blake slowly turned to face him, a reluctant look on her face as he continued to stare slack-jawed.

"Wait…I…what?" Frost stuttered out as he attempted to string together coherent thought. It took him a while before he was able to find the proper words. "You're a Faunus?!"

Blake quickly moved forward with a shushing motion at his near screech of an exclamation. "Shh! Not everyone here knows that!"

"But what about your team? What about Weiss?!" Frost exclaimed with a hushed voice. "She's a Schnee! How are you supposed to tell her ' _Hey, I'm a Faunus and I used to be with the White Fang! We're also teammates now!_ '?"

Blake gave Frost an unamused look as he looked at her expectantly. "You really think I would tell you first over my own friends and teammates? Really?"

Frost rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he tried to play off his blunder with a sheepish grin. It didn't work. "Sorry. Not entirely coherent at the moment given how the last few days have been." He grimaced slightly as his arm bent a little too much, still sore from his fight with the Grimm.

"Careful." Blake coaxed as she led the two of them over to the wall next to the door to the stairwell. "You took a few serious hits when you were fighting those Grimm before you passed out."

"Oh, great. I passed out fighting a few Grimm. That'll do well for my chances of being able to stay here and maybe learn a few things about being a Hunter." Frost groaned as his head slumped down between his bent knees in defeat.

"Actually, you did quite well out there." Blake stated plainly. Frost looked over to her with a raised eyebrow. "Fighting off not only as many Beowolves as you did, but also an Ursa and half of a King Taijitu in your first fight against Grimm is actually rather surprising. It was too bad about how the fight with it went though. It looked like you might have had a shot at beating it in one go before."

"Yeah well, panning things out hasn't been one of my strongest suits as you can tell." Frost stated as he rested his head against the wall behind them. "I tend to just jump right into the heat of things and go with what my gut tells me. Sometimes ends with my gut getting hit pretty hard."

"Even so, the fact you were hurt as little as you were after taking that hit was impressive. Not many people can take a full hit from a King Taijitu and walk away from it without some serious injuries." Blake smirked knowingly. "Ruby will probably be hounding you for days about how you did it with how much she was fawning over the fight."

"Seriously?" Frost asked with a look of surprise on his face. He sighed as he put head back on the wall slowly. "That's gonna be fun I bet. Maybe I'll see how long she goes before she gets too excited and explodes into a cloud of roses."

"I…don't think Yang would like that very much." Blake said with a slight grimace to her face.

"Why would that be?"

"Ruby is her younger sister."

Frost turned to look at Blake with an expression of equal parts shock, confusion, and fear. "Are you serious? Those two came from the same parents?!"

"Well it's just Yang, Ruby, and their dad now…but that's not my story to share."

The two were silent after that, both gazing out towards the sky and the sparkling stars as they blinked amidst the dark canvas of the night. Blake seemed calm and peaceful while Frost seemed deep in thought with a slight furrow to his brow.

"Can you answer something for me, Blake?"

"Depends on the question."

"…Why?"

Blake was the one to look at the other with confusion this time around. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you being so patient with me? After everything I've done and how I've acted around all of you, how can you be so willing to talk with me and listen to me vent?"

Blake smiled as she turned to face the sky again. "Because I was in your situation once." At Frost's silence, she continued. "A while back, just after the incident with the White Fang rally and the fight with Torchwick, I got myself all worked up trying to find him and get him taken down after everything he'd done. I had turned into a mess, missing out on sleep and being generally rude to the people I had grown to call my friends as well as my teammates. It took Yang pulling me aside and telling me to take it easy for me to realize what I was doing. I saw the same thing on your face those times I saw it. You were obsessing about the stuff you've been through up to getting here, and you were probably going to boil over soon, if you weren't about to tonight just as I showed up."

"Huh." Frost wondered aloud as he relaxed slightly. "Never would have thought Yang was such a mama bear-type with what I've seen of her so far. She seems too into jokes and fighting for that to make sense."

"I figured after seeing the way you acted the last couple times that the two of you would hit it off pretty well, actually."

Frost scoffed as he blew a small raspberry. "Yeah, probably not happening. I won't likely be around long enough to have this same kind of chat with anyone else. Once they find out where Torchwick is, I'm gonna be the first one going to take him down and rescue N- the person I was forced to leave behind when I managed to get away, then I'm out of here to somewhere people don't know who I am." Frost looked at Blake's expression to see if she had caught his near slip of Neo's name, but with no outward signs of confusion, Frost gave an inward sigh of relief.

"Well, either way we should probably head back before someone notices we're gone. Tomorrow may be a day off from classes, but that won't stop Ruby from being up bright and early." Blake stated as she got up from the ground and moved towards the door to the stairwell, turning to look at Frost's smirking face as she placed her hand on the doorknob. "What?"

"Not much of a morning person I gather then?" Frost asked to which Blake shook her head with a small smile. "I'll have to keep that it mind so that I don't make you a _sourpuss_ then somewhere down the road." Frost's smirk only grew as Blake expression flattened into a disapproving stare.

"No. It's bad enough Yang does that. Don't add to the fire that she's made. Weiss will kill you if it gets bad enough."

"What, is she too much of an Ice Queen?" Frost retorted as Blake only shook her head disappointingly, a faint smile still apparent on her face.

Frost paused a moment as Blake started the walk back, choosing to look out towards the clock tower for a moment. His expression softened for a moment, his mind finally realizing what Ozpin had been getting at when he had mentioned trusting more people and confiding in them. With that thought, he slowly shut the door behind him, intent on finishing the night with a well-earned rest.


	15. Chapter 15

The soreness of his joints was the first thing Frost noticed as he gradually awoke the next day, his muscles only now deciding to protest his heavy exertion from the day before. It wasn't like he was exactly given a choice however, dying against a few weak Grimm would've been a very abrupt and annoying end to his goal of saving Neo. That and wanting to stay in the good graces of the people likely keeping their eyes on him was a good idea as well. He smacked his lips a few times with a groan as he stretched, grabbing some clothes from a bag he had brought to the campus with him- one of his only belongings aside from his clothes, scroll, and weapons- before heading over to an open door that didn't lead to the hallway, thankfully noticing that this room happened to be a washroom with a shower and tub as well. He smiled slightly as he gently closed the door behind him and began to clean himself completely from head-to-toe.

It doesn't matter how many times people joke about dropping the soap. Once you've been detained for a few days you learn to fend for yourself when it comes to hygiene as well as your own well-being. Frost sure wouldn't be missing that kind of situation for a while.

As he finished cleaning himself off, he casually wrapped a towel around his waist as he grabbed a smaller cloth to finish drying his hair as he opened the door back into the dorm belonging to Team RWBY. During the time that he had gotten up and started showering, the others had gradually woken up as well, either from the sounds of the shower he was running or of their own volition. The moment the door to the washroom was opened, four sets of eyes turned and immediately widened at the sight of a boy in nothing but a towel in their dorm. All was silent for a few moments as Frost froze in position, only now fully comprehending where he was as well as who was currently in the room with him. Until Yang opened her mouth that is.

"Well…" The blonde stated slowly as her face grew a wicked smirk. "I thought we had to wait for breakfast to get something hot."

Frost's face, as well as that of the other girls, all gained varying degrees of blush before Frost quickly backpedaled into the washroom to put on his clothes beyond prying eyes with a slam of the door. Some quick shuffling could be heard from behind the closed door, as well as a few thumps and grunts before it opened again, this time with Frost dressed in a similar, albeit less-scratched outfit with a flat look on his face.

"This never happened, and we never speak of it again." His neutral expression passed over every other member of the room, three of which were attempting to avert their eyes slightly while maintaining small blushes while the fourth only smirked wider at the situation. "Deal?" Three nodding heads confirmed his hopes, and after a brief glare towards a fourth, a sigh and a nodded head confirmed that the…accident…would never be brought up again.

"Good." Frost sighed with relief as he went over to his gear and sat down roughly on the cot that had been supplied for him to use while staying here. "Because being kicked out after nearly getting naked in front of a bunch of girls was not something I planned on doing today." This statement was finished with a quick grunt as he immediately stood back up and started doing full-body stretches, much to the confusion of everyone else in the room.

"…What are you doing?" Weiss asked, the first person to voice her curiosity at what Frost was currently doing.

"Stretching." Frost stated matter-of-factly as he finished working on his arms and moving on to his legs, a hiss escaping his throat as a particularly stiff joint was popped after a few squats and bends. He then noticed the looks that the others were giving him, stopping in his exercises to give them all an equally perplexed expression. "What?"

"It's just…odd is all." Blake stated after a moment of thought. "Generally Ruby is the only one to have this kind of energy this early in the morning, especially on a day without classes or anything to worry about."

Frost shrugged slightly as he got up and sat back on his cot, leaning his head and shoulders against the wall as he crossed his arms on his lap. "After the amount of time I spent doing dirty work all over the place for Torchwick, you learned pretty fast that even if you don't do much, you get up bright and early like everyone else. Otherwise the alternative…isn't all that nice." Frost winced as he thought back to some of the things he had to endure a few months ago shortly after everything started.

"Is that…why you had those scars on your back?" Ruby asked silently, everyone turning wide eyes to her question. "I saw them for a moment before you closed the washroom door and wondered what they were from…was it that?"

Frost was internally screaming at himself for letting them see something like that so soon, not that he was intending to even let them see any in the first place. Outwardly, his right eye twitched slightly as the others all turned to face him, now curious about his response to Ruby's question. "No. Those are from…something else. It's nothing."

His conflicted expression told Blake otherwise as she immediately recognized his ashamed expression as the same one she had periodically seen over the last day. Before she could get a word in however, Ruby beat her to the punch.

"Oh, well…that's good then!" Her attitude immediately flipped back into her normal cheery disposition, Frost tilting his head in confusion at her sudden shift while the others gave each other a brief knowing look. "Why don't we talk about something else then?"

"Sure?" Frost said as he scratched the top of his head. "But…what about, exactly?"

"Yesterday's fight!" Ruby exclaimed as she practically leapt from her hanging bed, much to Weiss' momentary fright as she had never fully gotten over the swaying death trap that hung over her head most days. Yang gave Blake a victorious grin as Blake reluctantly reached over to one of her bags before tossing some change in Yang's direction. This did not go unnoticed by Frost, however.

"Did I miss something here?" The white-haired boy asked as he hesitantly looked towards the door to the hall, wondering if he could reach it and go for breakfast before the red-haired speed demon could catch him within the confines of the dorm since she hadn't changed yet. Then he wondered if that would even matter to her or if she would just keep charging after him for…whatever it was she wanted.

"Nothing much." Yang replied nonchalantly as she pocketed the change Blake had thrown her. "Just a little bet Blakey and I made over how long it would take Ruby to start talking about it. She thought Ruby would give it a day or so at least, but I knew she'd ask first thing you were both awake."

"Well technically she didn't ask right away, Yang. There was a bit of a…distraction from that line of thought." Weiss' cheeks reddened slightly for a moment before she cleared her throat with a light cough as well as a raised eyebrow coming from Frost. "I-I mean…she didn't ask right away so it's debatable whether or not you actually won your bet."

"Aw, come on Weiss!" Yang whined as she looked over to her teammate. "You're taking Blake's side on this?"

"Considering that her side tends to be a fair bit safer than your own, yes."

Blake and Ruby both giggled slightly as Frost looked on, unsure of what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation due to his only real interaction with women prior to today being the time he had spent with Neo. His silent awkwardness was quickly interfered with however, as Ruby immediately returned to her previous statement.

"Anyways, as I was saying before I was interrupted…" Ruby directed an adorable glare and puffed up cheeks in Yang's direction, who merely waved with her trademark smirk, before turning back to Frost with expectant eyes. "How did you do all of that crazy stuff against those Grimm yesterday?!"

"I…fought them?" Frost asked, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to say.

Weiss sighed as she placed a few fingertips to her forehead for a moment. "What she means to say is…what exactly were you doing while you were fighting them? We've all seen a number of different Semblances and fighting styles since coming here, but even yours is foreign compared to some of the more obvious abilities."

Frost's face lit up with realization as things clicked into place in his mind. "Oh! That's what you meant!" Frost simply sat with a smile, finally aware of what Ruby had been asking. After a few moments of him smiling slightly while looking at the girls, all of them awkwardly looked at one another before turning back to Frost.

"Well…?" Yang asked curiously as she rotated her hand slightly, all of the girls now anxiously awaiting his response.

"I'm not telling." Frost said with a smirk of his own, immediately hopping up to head over towards the door to the hallway, stopping beside it as he turned back to face the others. "Now…anybody else wanna go grab breakfast? I'm starved!"

Yang, Blake, and Weiss all groaned in varying volumes as they each started to take turns going into the washroom to shower and get changed for the day, all of them taking care to remember the male occupant they now had. Ruby however, opted to stare at Frost's smirking face as the others took their turn, unfaltering in her desire to know his secrets.

* * *

Ruby continued to stare at Frost between bites of her breakfast, while the rest of her team chatted with Team JNPR. Frost had yet to speak to them again aside from the debate he had caused in regards to lunch the other day, but to him they seemed like a decent bunch. A few times he stole a glance in Ruby's direction, opting to wink with a sly smile as she continued to glare at him as though attempting to peel through to his brain with her eyes alone. It was all he could do to not burst out laughing in the middle of the cafeteria at the scrunched up look her face had. In truth it reminded him a lot of a similar expression Neo tended to wear whenever he poked around a little too much before she resorted to teasing with her illusions- which happened often given how much Frost liked to poke.

After a few more moments Ruby had had enough, quickly standing up from her seat and immediately grabbing the attention of most nearby students including the rest of Team RWBY as well as Team JNPR. Her eyebrows furrowed, she raised an accusatory finger and pointed directly at Frost while clenching tight her carton of milk. This sight alone sent many students scrambling to leave the building as fast as their legs could carry them, Jaune nearly joining them had it not been for a reassuring hand on his shoulder from Pyrrha to keep him seated. Frost simply elected to raise both hands in front of his face and cross them as he gave Ruby a polite and friendly smile.

"Frost!" Ruby declared loudly, much to his chagrin as he flinched slightly from the volume she had chosen to use. "I challenge you to a duel in the training center!"

"Really now?" Frost asked with an amused look on his face as he continued to look at the red-haired leader. "And why is that?"

Ruby stood…"tall" and proud for a moment before she slumped back into her seat, giving him a pleading expression. "You wouldn't say how it was you fought off those Grimm yesterday, and I really wanted to know! So I figured, if you won't tell me I'd just get you to show me instead. Hence the duel in a safe training facility that'll automatically stop the fight if either of us gets knocked around too much!"

* * *

Frost at first thought that it would be easy to refuse the girls request, as polite as it was. The one thing he hadn't accounted for however, would be the very thing that would be his undoing. You see, growing up he eventually built up a resistance to Neo's pleading eyes and pouty faces given the amount of time they had spent around each other, and due to being the same age. Ruby however was 2 years younger than him, something he had only recently become aware of and was still slightly surprised by. What this meant, along with the fact he had never been faced with one before, was that he was completely vulnerable to the Rose© patented pouty-eyes-and-face combo. Before he knew it the five of them, with Team JNPR tagging along as well out of curiosity, were all making their way into the training hall and heading into a different section of the building that was meant for sparring between students rather than practicing against the limited quantities of captured Grimm that the school had for training purposes like what Frost had done the previous day.

Frost shook his head as he suited up his gear, snapping the straps for the gauntlet in place as he finished placing the Ice Dust-infused casing onto the bracer itself as well as unsheathing his sword to give it a quick inspection before returning it to his side and stretching his arms a few times. He sighed briefly as he started walking down the passage that led into one side of the battlefield that he and Ruby would be using for their impromptu match. It also turned out that, to his surprise, given Pyrrha's experience with competitions and sparring she would be acting as their in-lieu judge for the fight. He would really need to take some time and possibly get to know some of the other students at the school here if he was likely going to be stuck here for a while waiting on any progress.

He shook himself slightly to clear his mind of those thoughts however, removing the potential distraction from his mind as he mentally psyched himself up for the fight. If what he remembered from the day before was true, then Ruby had what looked like a rather large scythe as a weapon for someone as small as her, so he would likely be able to find a few easy to reach openings in her stance and fighting style given her choice of weaponry and end the match quickly. He had to cover his eyes slightly as the sudden glare of light hitting his eyes told him he was now entering the battlefield, eventually able to see Ruby at the opposite side as his eyes adjusted, carrying a…rifle? And from the looks of it, a rifle that she was having no trouble holding up either.

Did she have multiple weapons then? Or was something else going on here? These were the question cycling through Frost's mind as Pyrrha made sure both of them were ready before ringing the bell to signify the start of the match.

"Go Ruby!" Yang cheered with a large amount of enthusiasm as she watched the battlefield with excitement of her own. "Kick his butt!"

So that meant that there wouldn't be much support on Frost's side of the field, though a subtle thumbs-up from Blake signified that she was at least rooting for him as well as her team leader. It was the thought that counted after all. Frost then turned to focus on the small girl he was now fighting against…only for there to be nothing in sight aside from a few small rose petals fluttering towards the ground. Where had those even come from, anyways?

Frost's confusion was quickly replaced by concern as he felt a rush of wind pass him, his body jerking in the opposite direction with a quick glow and leap of his legs and narrowly avoiding the scythe blade that had just impaled the dirt floor where he had been standing only moments before. His eyes widened at the sight of the small girl pulling the scythe out of the ground with ease and propping it behind her with both hands in a sort of pose. Frost had clearly underestimated Ruby based on her stature, a mistake he was not going to make a second time if he wanted to keep his secret about how his Semblance worked. At first tit had simply been a matter of teasing Ruby…but the more he thought about it, the more he would rather people didn't know how his own power worked for the sake of having his own proverbial ace-in-the-hole to use in a fight.

These thoughts would have to wait as well however, as Frost again narrowly avoided another swipe from Crescent Rose. His expression shifted to one of extreme focus as he leapt forward as Ruby yanked her scythe from the ground, his sword mid-swing as he neared her…only for her to blur in a cloud of roses and disappear just as he would have made impact. His perplexed expression was brief once again however as he and Ruby began dancing around the battlefield, their bodies both blurring in some fashion as they each narrowly avoided blows directed by the other.

* * *

As the fight wore on, both had managed a few glancing blows to the other but were otherwise unscathed. According to the readings for their Aura levels, both were only slightly into the yellow and neither showing any signs of slowing down soon. There was a moment that Frost had thought himself guaranteed victory after a particularly vicious swipe of Crescent Rose left it wedged into the ground slightly, only to have to backpedal quickly as Ruby converted the scythe back into the rifle he had seen at the beginning of the fight rather than trying to dislodge the weapon and swing at him.

From then it turned into a flurry of projectiles as Ruby shot bullet after bullet from her gun towards Frost, only for him to deflect them with ease using his ice shield trick with the gauntlet before firing off bursts of raw energy from the gauntlet itself, some of them as simple bursts of energy or as chunks of ice that either wedged into the ground or coated some sections in a slippery surface. A few of these patches had nearly spelt doom for both of them, as their sudden and sharp movements most times did not agree with frictionless surfaces very much.

The two of them were now standing face-to-face with about 50 feet between them, Frost's sword held out at his side while Ruby held Crescent Rose aloft, both of them preparing to strike. Frost then gained a smirk as he called out towards Ruby.

"Hey! How about a little wager on top of the previous one?" Frost asked as he awaited the redhead's response.

The response came quickly enough, both of their voices carrying easily throughout the arena. "That depends on what the bet is on! What would we be wagering?"

"Both of us go all out in one last attack, whoever's Aura is lower afterwards is the loser and follows the request of the winner that was made prior to the fight starting. How does that sound?" Frost smirked as he got into a ready position. Regardless of what Ruby chose, he would need to be ready to attack despite whatever approach she would want to take.

"Sounds good to me! How about a count to three and then we both go?" Ruby yelled back in response.

"Sure! Whenever you're ready to go!"

Both of them both stood in their ready positions, Frost's arms and legs beginning to glow much brighter than any of the other times they had in this fight while Ruby tensed her legs in preparation. The two then gave each smirks before counting down.

"1!" Frost began as the two crouched lower to the ground, his limbs now shining brightly despite it being the middle of the day.

"2!" Ruby continued as the wind around her began to pick up, her hair and outfit billowing slightly as they both prepared to leap.

" **3!** " There was a rush of wind as Ruby leapt forwards in an intense storm of roses, her body corkscrewing similarly to how she had defeated Team JNPR during their food fight. Frost, meanwhile, had leapt forwards with an intense kickoff from the ground beneath him, leaving a small crate in the dirt from the force of his kickoff. No one from outside could see the resulting clash as the two of them both kicked up a large cloud of dust around themselves. A moment later however, Frost went sailing out of the cloud in the direction he had come from, slamming into the wall at the opposite end and landing on his rear as he panted for breath, his hand holding his abdomen as he winced slightly before the area under his shirt glowed slightly, the pained look on his face slowly fading away.

As the dust settled, Ruby could be seen also gasping for breath as she leaned against her scythe for support. The two of them looked at each other for a few moments before Frost slowly used the wall as a support for getting up and Ruby made her way over to where he was, her scythe switching back to a gun as she neared him.

Frost and Ruby simply stared at each other for a moment before Frost smiled peacefully and reached out a hand to ruffle Ruby's hair lightly, eliciting a giggle from the small girl. Frost then motioned with his head towards the nearest exit from the field, to which Ruby nodded and the two supported each other as they left to reunite themselves with those that had just finished witnessing the match and were still picking their jaws up off of the floor.

"So…I take it you figured it out then?" Frost asked as the two of them slowly approached the exit for the long hallway.

"I think so." Ruby stated with uncertainty. "But I did make you promise that you would tell the others as well, so I'll find out for sure if I was right or not when you do that in a few moments."

"Fair enough." Frost claimed as they both covered their eyes to avoid the inevitable glare of light at the end of the passage.

The two had to stop for a moment to avoid being overrun by the rest of Teams WBY and JNPR approaching them quickly, all with varying levels of concern aside from Nora, who looked like she would want to see something like that again…after already watching it a dozen times before.

"Are you two okay?" Pyrrha asked as Yang approached Ruby and gave her a brief, but tight hug before backing away at Ruby's insistence.

"A little bruised," Frost stated as he chuckled before wincing with a hand back at his abdomen, causing Ruby to giggle slightly. "But we're otherwise no worse for wear. Besides, I'm sure the rest of you want to hear about my Semblance now that Ruby's beaten me fair and square." Most of the previous concern shifted at that statement, everyone now giving Frost curious looks as he led them all to a couple of rows of seats to sit down at while he explained.

"So…" Frost began slowly, sifting through his brain on the best way to word things at this point. "You guys have something like a Physics class here, right?" At a brief nod of consent from those around him, Frost breathed a sigh of relief before continuing. "Thank goodness, that'll help things make a lot more sense in the long run. Anyways, my Semblance effectively works like a battery. It only has so much juice in it, so I can only use it so much before I either can't use more of it, or just collapse from exhaustion."

"Like what happened yesterday after you fought those Grimm?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Exactly like that. Yesterday was probably one of the biggest usages of my Semblance that I've ever even attempted or been able to pull off. So by the time things ended, by body needed to rest. Basically, my Semblance functions a lot like kinetic energy. I can transfer it from one form to another, and can then manipulate that energy release depending on what I'm doing with it." Frost paused for a moment before concentrating on his right arm, which began to glow slightly. "Most of the time I use the energy as a sort of adrenaline rush for myself, giving me a temporary boost to my muscles to help me either move further or hit things harder, depending on the situation." He then opened his right fist and aimed towards the ceiling of the building as he released a small wave of force from his hand that dissipated as it went higher. "Other times I can release it as a projectile that can sometimes short circuits and smaller electronics. I've never tested it on anything larger like droids or mechs at this point."

"But what about the metal bracer you wear?" Blake asked as she gestured at the piece of metal on Frost's left arm. "How do you get it to make and shape those bursts of ice like that?"

"That one's kind of a weird one, honestly." Frost began as he took off the bracer, carefully reassembling it off of his wrist for returning it to the weapons lockers as he continued to speak. "You see the glowing blue markings that run along the metal?" He waited a moment for people to nod in understanding. "Those are actually Dust runes etched into the metal somehow. As far as I know it's a sort of prototype that I think Weiss' family was working on if I remember correctly. These are specifically runes of Ice Dust, hence the shields and ice slicks and mist I tend to employ. It pretty much is just me altering how the ice forms when I push the energy into the runes themselves. Sometimes I need a defensive option, so I make a shield. Other times I need a distraction, so I make a large cloud of mist or something like that. That's pretty much all there is to my Semblance."

"That's…pretty cool, actually." Yang stated, much to the groaning and discomfort of most of those currently in company. "Oh come on, that wasn't even meant to be a joke!"

"I think you should probably leave the cold jokes to me, Yang." Frost mentioned as he and Ruby went off to return their weapons to another part of the facility. "Unless you like _Frost-_ burn."

"No. Just…no." Weiss stated as the rest of them started walking towards the exit, leaving Ruby and Frost to return their weapons.

* * *

"By the way…" Ruby started, a hint of curiosity and hesitation evident in her voice. "Back in the fight, I noticed that there were times you seemed to zone out for a moment or two before managing to dodge a swing from Crescent Rose. Was something on your mind?"

"…You could say that." Frost stated quietly enough for Ruby to hear. "It's just that…you remind me of a girl I know, sometimes." At Ruby's confused expression Frost continued, albeit with a slower gait so as to delay their arrival at the end of the tunnel and someone else potentially catching part of the conversation. "She's pretty much the closest thing I have to a sister to be honest, and a lot of the ways you fight or act reminds me of her a fair amount."

Ruby smiled, a fond expression on her face as she looked over to Frost, who was currently looking towards the ground with his hands in his pockets. "You remind me of Yang, too."

"What do you mean?" Frost asked as he looked over to Ruby in surprise.

"The way you joke around about stuff, but then get super serious whenever something important is going on. And now with you taking about this kind-of sister you have…it just sounds a lot like her. I bet the two of you would get along really well if you hung out more." Ruby smiled innocently as they quickly followed after the rest of the departing group, Frost also gaining a small smile on his face at having effectively made another close friend in such short time.

* * *

 **So, this is likely going to be my last update before the New Year given how busy I'll likely be for the next week or so. I figured, since this one was another longer one it would effectively be my Christmas gift to you guys. Otherwise I will see all of you in a week or so for both the new year as well as the return of S3 from its hiatus. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!**


	16. Chapter 16

**So first things first- I apologize for the extended wait between the last chapter and this one, hence why I went for a longer chapter to stem things a bit. Also I hope this chapter is okay since I was doing part of it late last night and may have either missed some details or made some errors in the way I typed things out.**

 **On another note, I've had to choose to alter a bit of how the story was originally going to go following a few more chapters given recent events in the show and such. I may also slow down my pacing a bit so that way I give the show some time to play out a few things and see where I can go off of due to my decision to involve Volume 3 in this story.**

 **Hope you all have been enjoying your New Year so far!**

* * *

Three weeks.

That was how much time Frost had now spent at Beacon following his ordeals with his escape from the pier, his run-in with Blake and Yang, and everything else leading up to him now residing in the same dorm as Team RWBY as a temporary measure until more news was delivered from Ironwood. Due to the fact that in a few short weeks more students would be arriving from other schools for the Vytal Festival, the General had been unable to focus more of his attention to finding out about the location of the White Fang or any leads in regards to them.

This had not been without some effort on the part of Team RWBY themselves however, as they had all offered suggestions as to ways they could try and either draw out the rogue Faunus group or anyone supporting them. These requests had been refused by both Ozpin and Ironwood, the latter be much more aggressive in his refusal of assistance by the girls. After their own encounters in the city itself on a number of separate occasions, as well as the situation with Mountain Glenn, Ozpin was refusing any sort of endeavors by the girls that fell into that sort of territory for the time being.

Frost had at first thought that due to this he would start to get bored being stuck on Beacon grounds with nothing to do while the others went to class. He had even spent some time talking with Team JNPR during the quieter times of day where the girls of Team RWBY seemed occupied with their own tasks. He never chose to say much or even interact a great deal for that matter, but he chose to at least get to know more people since it was starting to look more and more like he was going to be at Beacon for a while waiting for something to happen. So far, he had been able to at least find pleasant company with Team JNPR, but he was still hesitant to really consider anyone at Beacon a friend after his last few months and what had happened to Neo.

It was a few days following his spar with Ruby in the training centre that Frost had been asked to return to Ozpin's office. Frost had looked up from his scroll with an expression not out of place on a child entering a candy shop as he immediately shot off the cot he was lying on and sprinted off to the clock tower for the meeting that had been deemed urgent and of the utmost importance by Ozpin himself.

What he had instead discovered was that Ozpin had enrolled him in a bunch of classes at the school, both as a means to keep him occupied while he was here as well as to further the training he had with his Semblance and fighting styles. As it turned out, Frost was at least proficient in hand-to-hand combat due to his original method of training with Neo's illusions when he had no weapons to speak of, but was still more familiar with actually fighting a realistic opponent with his sword instead. That wasn't to say he spent all of his time in the arena however.

Due to him growing up in an orphanage but still expected to eventually be a functioning member of society, due to Frost and Neo's extended stay at the home they had been home-schooled in a sense on the more important things in Remnant that they then even taught to the younger children themselves on occasion. Neo was always the better teacher for the young ones due to her more maternal nature when she wasn't sparring with Frost or enduring his jokes- sometimes at the same time- while Frost was more of a hands-on kind of guy, showing a lot of the kids how to do things like cook, fix things, or even mock-fight in the rare scenario that the matron let them set up some mattresses for the kids to play on.

It had been a fun upbringing for Frost, living in that home.

* * *

School at Beacon however was a bit more…tedious than Frost had been given the impression of growing up, however. He'd never had to deal with the writing assignments to the same degree or fight in a much more serious fashion, aside from the odd spar with White Fang soldiers or bouncers hired from Junior's club that Roman insisted they keep fresh with by constantly fighting. It wasn't to say that he didn't like it though, on the contrary- he liked it quite a bit!

Between Oobleck's history classes, Port's Grimm lessons, or the occasional lesson from Glynda as well as her oversight of the sparring matches between students as a part of regular classes. Frost does start to notice certain things about different classes, given time. Such as how in Port's classes, as interesting as his tales of the Grimm may be, some seem a little far-fetched if not entirely impossible for the older man to have performed. He also notices that Oobleck, while very aware of the goings on in his classroom unlike Professor Port with how many students fell asleep sometimes, was incredibly energetic almost to the point where Frost had to ask if the mug he constantly rank from was filled with coffee between classes or something akin to that. Glynda, on the other hand, had a very no-nonsense attitude when it came to her lessons/matchups, and he quickly learned to avoid any snarky comments after seeing the odd look she would give to the class jokesters- a fair amount of time these looks being directed at himself or Yang, not to anyone's surprise though.

After Frost had started to figure out the teachers, he also started to notice things about some of his classmates that he hadn't been paying attention to previously. One group of students in particular caught his attention within the third week of him attending classes. The boys of Team CRDL, or more specifically, their leader Cardin Winchester. His arrogance and cock-sure attitude were plain as day once Frost noticed it, and since then he had always kept the odd eye on them due to the similarities that kind of attitude held with Frost's previous acquaintances before coming to Beacon.

It was on his most recent day of classes that Frost would have a few enlightening conversation with some of his classmates.

"…and based on recent advances in scientific development, what sorts of examples can students give me for practical applications of Dust?" Glynda asked the class as she paced slowly behind her desk at the foot of the amphitheater. Her gaze slowly panned across the room before resting on a student that didn't seem to be paying close attention to the current discussion. "Mr. Winchester."

The utterance of his name resulted in Cardin shifting abruptly to lessen the slouch he had been in before Glynda continued. "What current uses are there for Dust in today's society?"

Cardin scratched his head for a few moments as a few students rolled their eyes at the display, at this point used to his antics, before smirking as he gave his reply to the question. "Hunters using it to fight Grimm."

After a few moments Glynda raised her eyebrow with the expectation of a more lengthy response. "…Was there anything else you would like to add to that Mr. Winchester? Or was that all that you studied last night in preparation for today's lecture if you even read the source material at all?"

Cardin gave a half-hearted shrug while he continued to smirk as he gave his response. "What else could it be used for? All we care about is taking out Grimm anyways when we go out on missions."

Glynda sighed as he placed a hand on her face while she shook her head. "For one thing, Huntsmen do not simply fight Grimm as much as many people are lead to believe. That will be a discussion for another day however." Glynda paused for a moment as she looked about the room once more before continuing. "Now can anyone please inform Mr. Winchester how his answer was wrong?" She was barely able to hide a small smile as she saw Weiss immediately raise her hand anxiously. "Miss Schnee, if you would."

Weiss cleared her throat briefly, to which Yang chuckled as she elbowed Ruby in the side slightly with a motion of her head towards Weiss, causing the young leader to giggle slightly as Weiss started to speak. "While there are numerous applications of Dust in the field of weapon and combat, both for fighting Grimm as well as other types of fights, there are other applications of Dust in day-to-day life for everyone in Remnant. Many studies have yielded results in using Dust as a power source for a number of household appliances as well as managing to find ways to use it in medicinal practices as well as a fuel source for many vehicles for the purpose of travel and leisure." Weiss finishes her almost robotic statement with another petite cough to clear her throat as a few students chuckle slightly as the practically recited lecture that Weiss had given, with Cardin fuming slightly on the sidelines from what Frost could see.

Glynda nodded approvingly as she turned back to the board to write out some notes for students to take down. As Frost opened his own notebook that had been given to him by the school, he didn't miss the fact that Cardin seemed to keep a lingering gaze on Weiss throughout portions of the rest of the lecture, his frustration as plain as day without any sign of relenting as time went by. It seemed as though Cardin being steamed up was a normal occurrence however, but that didn't mean that Frost would ignore him altogether.

A little while later, the class was eventually let out to give them some time to take any breaks between this one and their next set of lessons. It was closer to the end of this time that Weiss realized that she had left some spare Dust in her locker for Myrtenaster for one of their sparring classes later that day and hadn't grabbed it until now. As she went back to the lockers at a more brisk pace, Frost noticed Cardin break off from his usual group a few moments later before heading down the same hallway Weiss had just finished going down. He then motioned to the others to go on ahead while he gets a quick drink. He politely refuses them to wait for him, stating that he has a tendency to take his time when having a drink to pace himself. This got him a few odd looks before a few of the others shrugged as they started to head off to their next class.

Frost carefully started heading down the hallway he had seen both Weiss and Cardin travel down, keeping his senses alert for anything as he came upon the corner that rounded to some of the student lockers. This proved to be a smart move, as he had to suddenly fit himself against the corner as he heard a slam come from down the next hall, almost like a person's hand meeting the metal surface of a locker.

* * *

Weiss hummed quietly to herself as she reached the locker that had been designated to her by the school, her meticulous organizational skills coming in handy as she deftly plucked a few vials of Dust before slipping them into one of her uniforms shirt pockets. As she went to close the locker itself however, she was interrupted by a large hand slamming onto the open door, forcing it to stay open for the time being while the hand resided on it. Weiss sharply turned around with a look of displeasure at whoever was interrupting, only to forget the words she had been going to say when she came face-to-face with Cardin Winchester only inches away from her, a look of unbridled rage and fury apparent on his face.

Weiss was able to eventually come up with a few words, though they came across as very weak and defensive- much to her chagrin. "W-what do you want, Cardin?"

The orange-haired boy smirked as he reached past Weiss with his free hand, picking up a vial of powder-blue Dust from one of the organized shelves as he twirled it slightly. "Nothing much, just coming to give a fellow Beacon classmate a friendly warning. That's all."

Weiss' expression hardened at these words before she began her retort. "Just like how you gave Jaune a warning? We all know what you're really like Cardin." Cardin's mock smile fell into a frown as Weiss continued. "All you ever do is fail at your fights since you just swing around your mace wildly, and clearly you don't even take being a Huntsman seriously considering your poor grades and lack of care about society."

Cardin snarled slightly as he moved his hand away from the locker door it had been held against, though Weiss avoided moving to close it due to Cardin's close proximity. "You think you're so precious, don't you Schnee?" Cardin snapped as Weiss looked at him with a renewed sense of fear in her eyes. The way Cardin said her given name reminded her too much of the White Fang member with the chainsaw Greatsword from the train a few weeks earlier. As much as she tried to put on a mask of determination and fearlessness, some things still were able to worm their way beneath her practiced shell of emotions.

"You think just because you're some heiress to a big-time company that you can go around spouting off whatever you like to whoever you want?" Cardin said as he clenched his now free hand at his side before cocking it back slightly. "No one here likes you, not even those so-called teammates you call friends. All they want is your money and influence so that they can get themselves further while the rest of us get to wait in the back for our turn to get a chance. So why don't I just do everyone a favour and show you just how much your name is worth?!" Cardin then tensed his muscles in his arm as he began to swing his free hand towards Weiss' face, the latter covering her face out of self-defense in preparation for the inevitable contact…that never came.

"God I hate meat-heads like you."

Both Cardin and Weiss' eyes snapped to attention as they both turned to face the voice coming from behind Cardin that hadn't been there previously. It was then that they both noticed Frost standing with one slightly glowing hand holding Cardin's arm back as it twitched slightly, Frost's steely expression akin to a disappointed parent after catching their child rummaging through things they shouldn't.

"Give me the Dust, Cardin." Frost stated as he placed his open palm beside Cardin's hand holding the Dust at the same time that he whipped Cardin's restrained arm into a lock behind Cardin's back, the bully grunting slightly at the sudden adjustment of his limb. "Now."

"You know what, fine." Cardin practically spat as he nearly slapped the vial into Frost's waiting palm before he was released from the arm lock and swiftly put some distance between himself and the other two present. He massaged his arm a bit as he glared at Frost, who was currently standing with his arms crossed while Weiss gently closed the locker. Frost then moved his mouth a bit as he whispered something to Weiss that Cardin couldn't hear before Weiss nodded lightly and started briskly waking around the corner towards their next class.

Frost watched Weiss go for a moment before he turned back to Cardin, letting his arms drop to his sides limply as he did so. "So what exactly did you plan on getting out of bullying Weiss, you dunce?"

"Excuse me?" Cardin stated dumbly as he gave Frost a confused look.

"You heard me; don't keep pretending to be dumb…unless it's actually not an act in which case I really feel bad for you." Frost continued as he appeared to casually stretch his arms a bit, much to Cardin's continued confusion and eventual frustration.

"Look, I don't know what you're playing at," Cardin began after shaking off his momentary confusion, "but if you just give me that vial and walk away, then you can walk away with your face intact."

"Really now?" Frost coolly stated as he turned to glare at Cardin mid-stretch, his casual attitude suddenly gone to the wind. "Because I was about to recommend the same thing to you, minus you leaving with the Dust at least. Besides, who overpowered who just now?"

"You used your Semblance to do it, which I bet one of the prof's would love to hear about a student using their Semblance on another outside of a fight." Cardin smirked as he crossed his arms, confident in his victory.

"I bet they would, considering I did it to stop someone else from being punched in the face when they wouldn't back down from a lowlife like you." Frost paused for a moment with a finger to his chin before back-tracking slightly. "Scratch that, calling you a lowlife is insulting to the actual lowlifes. It'd be more accurate to call you a pest, or even a wannabe, considering how hard you try to give off this macho-man attitude that everyone sees through at this point."

"Listen you," Cardin snarled as he started pacing menacingly towards Frost. "I don't know where you came from or who you think you are, but anyone who messes with me learns pretty fast that I don't appreciate take kindly to shrimps like you talking back to me."

"You know what?" Frost asked calmly as he waked over towards one of the windows lining the hallway before opening it to the campus courtyard. "Maybe neither one of us should have this Dust. Maybe we should just get rid of it and walk away. Besides," Frost began as he turned to face Cardin, the vial of Dust resting in his now open hand, "what were planning on doing with this Dust anyways? Students can easily get extras from the school when going on missions and the like, so why this one in particular?"

"To prove a point, you idiot." Cardin snapped as he started walking towards Frost once more, a determined glare set on his face as he approached Frost. "People'll learn to not talk back to me if I can frighten a Schnee or someone else that won't learn their place easily. And if they don't then I beat some sense into them." Cardin cracked his knuckles as he got closer to Frost, a wicked glint now apparent in his eyes. "Just like I'm about to do to you."

"Cute…" Frost stated before cocking back the arm holding the vial before launching it through the open portal over the courtyard. Cardin froze at this action, more confused than anything why we would throw such a volatile substance out into open ground like that. He was barely able to see the focused expression on Frost's face as his other hand began to glow with his Semblance, a blast of energy suddenly lancing out of it and colliding with the vial in midair- igniting the Dust inside and releasing a large amount of snow and ice that gently fell towards the ground before evaporating in the warm air.

Frost then turned back to Cardin with his arms now crossed in front of his chest before speaking once more. "…Because I was about to say the same thing to you. Slightly different choice of words and all, but essentially the same point you were trying to make." His expression was like cold metal as he glared directly at Cardin, his previous carefree attitude entirely gone and in its place that of a person that had crawled out of the darkness for the first time. "I could snap you like a twig right now if I wanted to; the fight wouldn't even be fair with what I'm capable of next to your fighting style. Your attacks are clumsy and slow, as well as your tactical sense being something to be desired. I've done things that would make your skin crawl and seen things that might make you break. So before either of us goes down this path, ask yourself one question: Is it worth it?"

Cardin's face had paled as Frost unleashed the darker side of his personality at him all at once. He quickly turned and started sprinting down the hall back to the classrooms while Frost lowered his head with a remorseful sigh. He then straightened his posture before moving over to the open window and gently closing it. As he finished, he turned slightly so that his body was facing towards the corner that followed the hallway that Weiss and Cardin had both retreated down before clearing his throat.

"You can come out now, Weiss."

The white-haired girl strolled around the corner with a look of displeasure before facing Frost with her cold gaze. "What was that all about?!" She snapped as she approached Frost with a brisk pace. "I appreciate your intervention with Cardin, but there was no reason to talk to him or treat him like that. You may have had a less than pleasant childhood before coming here, but that's no reason to take it out on someone like him!"

"I know."

"And for ano- wait, you do?" Weiss paused mid-sentence with a perplexed look on her face before turning to face the white-haired boy who now had his arms crossed in front of him. As she looked at his face, she didn't see the look of someone proud of their actions, rather, she saw the look of someone that had made many poor choices and was still living with them even now. "Is…something wrong?"

"You could say that." Frost stated simply.

Weiss waited for a few moments, expecting a response from the quiet boy. When no further comments came, Weiss chose to interject her own thoughts. "I really do appreciate your help. But if something else is bothering you, maybe you should tell someone about it to clear your chest." Weiss looked down for a moment as she recalled some of her own experiences while at Beacon. "I've had a few situations where simply talking to someone helped to alleviate some of the issue and help me to move forward and be a better person."

"I wish it were that simple, Weiss, I really do." Frost began as he turned his head slightly to face the girl from the corner of his eye. "But after some of the things I've done, I don't think it's simple enough to just say a few words and a sorry or two to get to where I'd like to be. I've made too many mistakes."

Weiss huffed with a stomp of her foot before walking forward and turning Frost to physically face her. This action threw Frost off-guard as he looked at Weiss with a bewildered expression. He opened his mouth to continue, but Weiss raised a hand to silence him before pointing a finger into his forehead, much to his discomfort.

"Now you listen here, mister." Weiss began as she started going into her lecture-mode. "You can feel sorry for yourself all you want, but no one wants to help someone that's always causing a scene for everyone else or acting as mopey as you've been over these last few weeks. So either you tell me what's bothering you right now, or I'll find another way to find out the truth about what has you acting like this!"

Frost sighed as he carefully placed both hands on Weiss' shoulders and pushed her back a bit, albeit gently. He then looked at her with a tired expression as he began to speak. "Do you really want to know that badly? I don't know if you or the others will be able to treat me the way you have these past few weeks if you know the truth."

"Surprise me."

"Fine." Frost took a deep breath before he began his story.

"Before I ran into Blake and Yang, before I even had to work for Torchwick for that matter. I was living at one of the orphanages in the downtown part of Vale. I lost my parents at a young age when a bunch of Grimm invaded out village and killed a number of people, my parents among them. If it wasn't for some Huntsmen that had been patrolling the local area due to village's close proximity to Vale, a lot of us may not have made it out of there. They helped all of us find shelter or temporary lodgings in the city after they had dealt with the Grimm, and during that I had been placed in the care of the orphanage due to what had happened. It turns out I wasn't the only one that had lost family in the attack though. There was a girl about my age that had been living with her single mom during the attack, and her mother had also been caught up in the carnage."

"The two of us somehow managed to bond over that instance and began to consider each other a sort of family by bond rather than by blood. Over time we both hoped that we would be picked up by another family, but between my attitude when I was younger and the…interesting look she had, neither of us was ever chosen for adoption. After a while we started to help look after the younger kids when we got older, and I eventually discovered that I had a Semblance of my own when I got a little too worked up watching a TV show one day and accidentally fried the television. Turns out having an active temper and an energy-based Semblance don't mix well with electronics." Frost gave a small smile for a moment while Weiss attentively listened to his tale.

"A few months ago, we were training as usual since we found she had a Semblance of her own. I got too worked up again, and managed to dislodge my first actual projectile of energy without having to be touching the surface of something to release any energy. Frost paused as he looked at Weiss with a moment of realization. "Do you watch or read the news very much?"

"I do from time to time, but not very often, no. Why do you ask?"

"Do you remember anything about an incident involving an old warehouse and a bunch of crates of stolen Dust?"

Weiss' eyes widened for a moment as she remembered reading something about an incident similar to that around the same time he mentioned. "I do, but…that wasn't you, was it?"

"It was." Frost nodded his head gently before turning to face out the window. "The energy I discharged managed to make some of the Dust that had been lying near the point of impact go active. Turns out that crates of compressed Fire Dust really don't do well in enclosed spaces since the building immediately went up and started to fall apart almost immediately. When the two of us went to investigate, we had a run-in with Torchwick without realizing who he was before he shot some debris that had been hanging above the girl I mentioned before. I was barely able to jump to her and block the rubble with my back before we both blacked out."

"So that would explain the scarring Ruby noticed on your back on the first full day you were here. But if your Semblance is energy, shouldn't your Aura have been able to heal the damage without leaving any scars?" Weiss asked with an inquisitive look in her eye.

"You would be right in that guess, but even though it can do that, I didn't let it. Since I felt responsible for that and for the pain I caused her, I refused to let my Aura heal my back. I wasn't able to fully control my Semblance then, so some of the damage was still repaired, but once I had a better connection I stopped the flow towards the scars to leave them a symbol to myself of what careless attitude about both your abilities or Dust can lead to. That's why I responded the way I did to what Cardin was doing. The less people cause accidents because of their ego's the better off people will be."

"You mentioned something about the pain you had put the girl through." Weiss pointed out after a moment of thought. "What exactly happened to her?"

"We had been trapped in that burning warehouse for who knows how long with both of us inhaling Dust-laced smoke from the fires for at least a while. My Semblance healed my throat as things went on, but she wasn't so lucky. The burns on her throat were mostly able to be treated, but between her struggled talking and her fits of coughing she eventually lost her voice to the burn injuries. If we had been going to school or still had families we might have been able to afford the treatment to get the remainders of the Dust out of her system. By now it's probably too late to even get her voice back at all even if I do get to try again." Frost shook his head slightly before turning to face Weiss as he started walking towards the corner that would take them to their next class. "But enough of me yammering on, we should probably get to class before we're late."

"Very well." Weiss stated as she started walking in the same direction.

The two calmly walked down the school hallways in silence, the only sound being that of their footsteps echoing off of the walls since everyone else was already likely at the classroom by now. Weiss looked towards Frost to see him once again in his brooding state, his head hung slightly with a sad look on his face. Weiss reached over to him before flicking him on the forehead with two fingers, causing him to straighten suddenly and give Weiss a look of equal parts confusion and pain.

"What was that for?" Frost asked as he rubbed the spot on his forehead slightly.

"For starting to get like that again." Weiss stated matter-of-factly. "Now that you're here at Beacon, you can stop obsessing at that friend of yours. You'll have another chance to see her again once General Ironwood is able to locate the White Fang forces and track down whoever else is behind Torchwick's actions. So get over it and enjoy the second chance you got."

Frost shook his head after a moment with a small smile as he looked down the hall towards the classroom door they were fast approaching. "Maybe your right. I have been a little gloomy lately, but you'll have to forgive me if I relapse a bit from time-to-time. Things that like don't just leave you on a whim."

"Understandable."


	17. Chapter 17

**So...here is effectively the end of what I'm considering the Beacon Arc of the story. A little while ago I kind of thought of how different things would be, and eventually it came down to there being three arcs effectively. The first was the introduction of Torchwick, dealing criminal stuff, and eventually having the interrogation from Ironwood and Ozpin before going to Beacon itself. Then there was this arc with getting comfortable with being at Beacon and the people that Frost would be associating with. The third ad final arc- unless I'm suddenly possessed of an additional idea, will be involving the events of the Vytal Festival due to how much potential I've seen with mixing my story in without changing the core elements of the current Volume.**

 **This chapter as a whole was more interesting to write due to everything coming full circle effectively and having Frost's connection to Neo brought to light for the others. I'm hoping from here people continue to like this story, and otherwise I wish you all the best in your endeavors, wherever they may be.**

 **Also, for those who may be interested- I have found a song on Youtube- from a songwriter that I am quite fond of his work- that would effectively function as a theme song for this fic in general. I hope others like it as much as I do. The song itself is called Evacuate by Miracle of Sound, but I'll also have a link to it on my account page for those that want quick access to it.**

* * *

"Hey, Blake?"

"Yes Ruby?" The faunus asked of her team leader when she heard her named called. Her gaze separated from her current book as she turned her sights towards the young redhead.

"Have you noticed anything…off about Frost the last couple of days?" Ruby asked carefully with an almost guilty look on her face as she asked the question that had been on her mind for a good portion of that day. "I know things were going fine up until a few days ago when Glynda had asked about applications of Dust, but since then…he's been colder than usual."

"A pun from you, Ruby?" Weiss asked incredulously from her desk as she, too, turned to face the young girl. "I always thought that was your sister's thing. Don't let her hear you talking like that once she's back from her little training session." In truth all 3 of the girls knew that Yang's sessions that she took on the occasional day off of classes was anything but little. Between choosing the higher settings in the practice arenas as well as fighting against some of the more capable students in their year, Yang was a glutton for punishment when all it did was fuel her Semblance. There had even been a few isolated instances of Yang punching holes in the building itself due to how intense she let the fights get. Therefore, they knew it would still be a little bit until she started to make her way back after heading out early that morning.

"I didn't mean it like that, Weiss!" Ruby huffed as she pounded her arms against her legs from atop her bunk- which to this day still hung precariously above Weiss' own bed, oddly enough. "And I bet you've noticed it, too! You haven't been as…you," Weiss gave a brief shout of indignation at this statement as Ruby continued, "around him since that same day. You've actually been trying to be a bit nicer to him for once."

Weiss' face flushed for a moment as Ruby directed the spotlight in her vicinity, suddenly desiring to change the topic of conversation as Blake gave her an inquisitive look as well. She sighed as her face returned to normal, a sympathetic look now apparent on her face. "There…may be a reason for that."

" _GASP!_ " Ruby exclaimed as her face gained a giddy expression, her hands shooting up to cup her cheeks as she began to bounced slightly on her bed, much to both Blake and Weiss' discomfort. "Do you have a crush on him?!" Blake's eyes continued to bounce between the two conversationalists as she silently wished she'd had a bowl of popcorn for some strange reason. Weiss on the other hand had a look on her face between horror and shock as she froze at Ruby's current question.

The lull lasted for a brief moment as Weiss practically glared at Ruby before giving her response, albeit a little harshly. "No! I wasn't going to say I had a crush on him you dolt! I'm not like that sap Arc, who just falls for every girl that walks past him!"

* * *

For a brief moment in the next room, Jaune felt a sudden chill go down his spine…and it wasn't because of the way Nora was currently looking at the stack of midday pancakes Ren had just put in front of her, either.

* * *

"Awwww…" Ruby flopped back onto her bed as she sighed in defeat. "I thought it was gonna be something really sweet or cool…"

Blake chuckled lightly as she turned to speak to the other teammate present. "Go on Weiss. What were you about to say?"

The heiress nodded her head to Blake as she composed herself. "The two of us had a…discussion that day, which is true. But it wasn't about anything like a crush. Cardin had chosen that afternoon to decide to pick me as a new target for his pointless bullying circle, and I was doing a less than stellar job trying to calm to raging behemoth down before he could do something stupid with the vial of Dust he was attempting to take from me."

Ruby's demeanor immediately changed from defeated to focused as she gave Weiss a serious look. "Did he hurt you, Weiss? I can tell Yang or Nora if you want, both of them have been wanting a shot at him for a while now."

"That won't be necessary, Ruby." Weiss stated as she waved her arms rather vigorously in an attempt to defuse her suddenly protective leader. Truly, she and Yang were sisters, even if just from the same father and not the same mother. "No, it was about…his life prior to running into any of this. Before us, before working on the wrong side of the law…even before he ran into Torchwick."

Blake and Ruby immediately focused on Weiss at this last statement, having never heard anything about this from Frost and surprised to hear that he had said anything to another person at all. Blake quietly slipped her bookmark into her current passage as she set her book aside, while Ruby hopped down from her own bed to sit on Weiss' own, more stable one.

"And?" Ruby asked after a few moments of silence.

"…He never had an easy childhood. Much like the rest of us, the world somehow managed to throw about as many obstacles as it could before his own life came crashing down around him. He lost his family to a Grimm attack in the village he had grown up in, and met a girl at the orphanage here in Vale after finding out that she had also lost family in the same attack. The two of them ended up bonding over that fact before spending the better part of their life growing up together in that place."

"I bet that's the same girl he was talking about having a siblingish relationship with after we had our fight a few weeks ago!" Ruby exclaimed as Blake placed a finger to her chin in thought.

"And maybe she's also the same person that he had been forced to leave behind with what was left of the forces working for Torchwick when he had to leave to speak to General Ironwood."

"If so," Weiss stated as she regained the attention of her team, "then it makes a lot more sense why he wants to find out where they are so urgently. She clearly means a lot to him, and I imagine he still feels bad about having caused her loss of voice as well as leaving her in the hands of whoever is still out there."

"Wait, she lost her voice?" Blake asked curiously as she gave Weiss an odd look. Both Ruby and Weiss gave each other confused looks before turning to face their faunus friend.

"Yes." Weiss stated simply. "But what does that have to do with anything other than some underlying guilt about her inability to talk after an accident he caused?"

"Because the night I spoke to him, he almost slipped a name when he was telling me a few things." Both of the other girls looked at each other wide-eyed before turning back to Blake at the same time. "I didn't catch all of it, but I did catch the first letter."

"…Well?" Weiss asked with a frown on her face, unamused at the dramatic silence that Blake had chosen to adopt. Ruby on the other hand had started running off the alphabet to Blake as she asked what letter she had overheard. For a while Blake continued to shake her head in a negative response as Ruby continued to guess. Weiss and Ruby both tilted their heads slightly when Blake finally nodded her head at a letter.

"N?" Ruby thought aloud as she looked towards the bottom of her own bed in thought. Weiss had a look of confusion for a much shorter time before looking at Blake with wide eyes, a connection of thoughts shared between the two as they turned to face their still guessing leader.

"Ruby…" Weiss said gently, as though she were afraid of breaking something apart. "I think…we might already know who it is."

"Hang on Weiss," Ruby said as she played with her cloak a bit. "I think I almost have it figured out."

"It's Neo, Ruby."

Upon hearing her name called by Blake, Ruby immediately turned her gaze down towards the others. After a moment, Ruby's eyes almost widened as she placed a hand over her mouth.

"We need to tell Yang!"

Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms with closed eyes, "And say what? Hey Yang, we may have figured out who the person is that Frost left behind. Surprise, it's the same girl that nearly killed y-"

"Weiss." Blake stated sharply as though a threat had just appeared.

"Hold on Blake, I need to explain to Ruby that her idea is terrible."

"I don't think that will do much good when she isn't even here."

"What do you mean she isn't…" Weiss started as she opened to eyes to look around the room to see the speed demon. Only for her to not be in the room and the door hanging open slightly. "…here."

"We need to hurry." Bake stated as she quickly moved to grab her scroll from the nearby night side table, while Weiss nodded and grabbed her own from beside her paperwork as the two hurried out after Ruby.

* * *

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she dashed down the halls of the dorms towards the entrance, students dodging left and right to avoid the fast approaching blur as she went past. Everyone at this point knew something of the level of agility the young girl had, and knew better than to be in the way when she was in a hurry to get somewhere. Everyone except her own sister that is, as Ruby plowed headfirst into Yang's waiting arms as she scooped up her younger sister in a mighty hug.

"What's up, Rubes?" Yang asked with a large smile as Ruby struggled amidst her sister's ridiculous grip. The blonde noticed this and carefully put the smaller girl down as she put her hands on her hips in a patient manner. Ruby took a few moments to regain precious air from the amount she had lost while being squished against Yang.

"…Blake…Weiss…and I…figured out…something you oughta know." Ruby panted out as she regained her composure. Yang gave Ruby a look of interest with one eyebrow raised as Ruby straightened herself out before continuing. "You know that girl that we saw with Torchwick on the streets as well as on the train?"

Yang's smile immediately turned serious as her eyebrow continued to stay raised as she gave Ruby a pointed look. "Yeah, kinda hard to forget someone threatening you with the pointy end of an umbrella. What about her?" Yang cracked her knuckles a few times to work out some of the frustration now running through her system. "If you say she's here on the grounds, I'm gonna make sure she can't do the same thing to someone else…or worse."

"Nononono!" Ruby exclaimed as she frantically waved her arms back and forth to defuse the situation. "It's nothing like that, promise! But it's about her and how she works for Torchwick!"

Yang relaxed her arms slightly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, awaiting Ruby's response with a patient look as her eyes flashed red for a brief moment. "Alright, but make it quick. I wanna do something exciting after if this turns out to be something depressing."

"I…don't think it's depressing, at least not really." Ruby said as she anxiously pressed her forefingers together. "We think…that Frost might know who she is though. That it's possible she's the person he kept referring to when he talked about someone he had left behind when coming to find the General."

Yang's face rotated through expression of surprise, thought, realization, and finally slight irritation as she started walking in the other direction, back towards the school grounds while Ruby followed quickly after. The younger of the two looked towards her older sister with an expression of confusion as she noticed the hardened look in Yang's eyes.

"Yang, did Frost do something wrong?" Her quiet voice snapped Yang out of her current state as she placed a soothing hand on Ruby's head.

"Not really, Rubes." Yang sighed as she shook her head slightly. "But he does need to answer a few questions for me. You head on back to the dorms and I'll catch up soon. I just need to go find him and ask him a thing or two."

"Okay." Ruby stated as she started walking back the way she had come. After a few moments however, she turned back and called out to her sister as she continued her march towards the courtyard. "And Yang?"

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"Promise you won't hurt him depending on what he has to say?" Ruby asked with a slight look of worry in her eyes. "Please?"

Yang gave Ruby a long look before giving her sister a toothy grin and thumbs up. "I won't hurt a hair on his head, Rubes." She waited until Ruby had turned to start walking the other way before putting on a straight face and continuing her walk to the centre of the grounds. Only she could hear the words that were next whispered past her lips. "I hope."

* * *

"Ruby!" Weiss and Blake exclaimed a while later when they finally caught up to the younger girl…who was walking towards them with a measured pace rather than her usual pace, and also lacking her usual upbeat smile. This immediately brought concern to the other two as they renewed their pace to reach Ruby faster.

"Is everything okay?" Blake asked as she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder carefully.

"I hope so. Yang just wanted to go talk to Frost alone, but I made her promise not to hurt him if she got angry." Ruby gave a weak smile at her last statement as Weiss groaned and pinched her nose between two fingers.

"We need to go find the two of them, now." Weiss stated bluntly as Blake nodded in agreement.

Ruby looked frantically between the two as they both moved to pass her. She immediately threw out both arms to block the girl's paths as they both gave her varying looks of concern and confusion. "I promised Yang that we would let her talk to him. She's the only one that hasn't had the chance yet, and I feel like they both really need this."

"Ruby…" Blake began carefully, whereas Weiss decided to take the more direct approach.

"We're not letting your sister get in over her head, either." She stated sternly as she moved again to pass Ruby, only for the young girl to move with her as Blake watched in silence. Weiss frowned at this before continuing, "She is the most easily provoked on her team, and if the topic of the girl that nearly killed her comes up, I doubt anything pleasant will occur wherever the two of them end up talking."

"We need to give them that chance, Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed as she stood directly in front of the heiress with a determined look on her face. "He needs it more than anything if this is what keeps bothering him!"

"And how can you be sure that Yang won't still want to hit him after he starts talking? Especially if our hunch about this Neo girl is right?" Weiss asked as she crossed her arms against her own chest.

"How about we go and keep an eye on things from a distance," Blake started in an effort to remove some of the tension in the air, "and if things get out of hand, then we get involved. We can ask for Yang's forgiveness after if it comes to that."

After a few moments, both of the other two girls nodded their heads in agreement as the group started walking towards the courtyard where Frost tended to go in his times of thought and reflection as they had come to discover.

* * *

Frost sighed as he stared out over the open campus of Beacon. It's true, the talks he'd had with Blake, Ruby, and Weiss had helped immensely in easing a burden off of his shoulders that he hadn't realized was there. But it had only made him realize more about his current predicament. Between the oncoming tournament and preparations associated with it, everyone was too busy to focus all of their efforts on tracking down the White Fang. There were more students and visitors coming to Vale every day to watch the coming festivities, and this made Frost realize that it would likely be a while before he would get the chance to try again to rescue Neo. Cinder would never try something as bold as to attack during the widespread event…would she?

His thoughts from on the rim of the statue's base were interrupted however as Frost heard the sound of someone clearing their throat off to the side. Upon turning his head to see who it was, he noticed Yang in full combat gear- likely having just come from her training session she had mentioned something about that morning- with a frown on her face and her arms crossed against her chest. The young man sighed as he hopped down and started walking over towards the blonde.

"Is it time for dinner already?" Frost asked as he stretched his arms a bit to relieve any cramps due to his extended amount of time atop the statue. "Didn't realize it's that late in the day already."

"Not yet." Yang stated simply as she moved in front of Frost's path. The white-haired youth frowned as Yang gave him a pointed look while he raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "You and I need to talk though."

"Yang…" Frost started as he scratched the back of his head with one hand. "If this is about the other day when Weiss and I showed up late, Cardin was being a self-righteous ass and-"

"It's not about the other day." Yang cut him off as he was caught with his mouth hanging open in confusion. "I don't even care about that right now." The blonde took a deep breath through her nose that came out as steam for a moment as she collected her thoughts amidst her growing frustration. "I came to ask you about that girl, Neo."

It was at this moment that Frost ceased to think. Had he been able to it would have been akin to trying to run a computer as its system melted and fell apart all around it. He could only stare at Yang like a deer in the headlights as she stared at the boy, awaiting a response. This silence continued for a few more moments before Yang's eyes flashed red and brief burst of flame ignited from her golden locks.

"Answer me!"

Frost shook his head to clear his thoughts now that he had had time to rearrange his mental structure from scratch. "I…honestly didn't expect this question so suddenly." He stated this with a neutral look on his face.

"Are you serious?" Yang exclaimed as she raised her arms in her baffled state. "You know this girl that helps some psycho escape, and who nearly killed me, and you didn't expect this question to come up?!"

"I should rephrase." Frost quickly stated in an attempt to appease the growing fire in front of him, both metaphorically and literally. "What I meant was, I didn't expect this so soon. I never prepared my response for this in time I guess." The white-haired boy scratched his head as he hung it in shame. "But I guess I'll wing it now and see how it goes."

"I'm sorry."

"…For what?" Yang stated as she gestured to nowhere in general.

"For…all of this." Frost said as he turned to walk back towards the statue at a slow gait. "For not being honest with all of you from the beginning. For being too stubborn to accept help earlier when it could've saved me a lot of trouble. For being so cold-shouldered towards you in particular when I got here." He paused as he took a deep breath before speaking the next part barely loud enough for Yang to hear, but hear it she did. "For being to blame for you almost dying."

"W-What?" Yang stammered as her eyes immediately bounced back to their normal lilac hue amidst her confused response. "What was that last part?"

"I said 'For being to blame for you almost dying.'" He stated matter-of-factly as he turned his head slightly in her direction, but not enough for her to see his eyes. "I don't know if that's the way you see it or not. For all I know you just wanted to know how I'm associated with Neo. Might as well come out and say it now. The reason she nearly stabbed you, or even works for Torchwick right now? It's my fault. Always has been no matter how much people try to defend me and say it was an accident. It still happened. I caused the building to collapse; I caused her to lose her voice. I got her involved with a criminal who drugged her and took away her own free will, to the point where she nearly killed you during the whole Mountain Glenn situation. All because of **THIS. STUPID. IDIOT.** " The last few words were punctuated by repeated blows by the side of fist pounding against the base of the statue- without breaking the concrete surface this time.

Yang could only stare on in concern as Frost simply stood with his fist held against the rough surface as his shoulders shook slightly. She could even hear the slight sound of someone sniffling before Frost took a deep breath and turned to face her. His eyes were now red and he struggled to keep his lip from quivering slightly as he looked her directly in the eye before standing straight on front of her with his arms held out at his sides. Yang thought she was imagining things when she heard the next words issued from his mouth.

"Hit me."

Her jaw dropped out of shock as her own arms fell limp at her sides, her own mind now trying to process just what was going on in this instance. One moment this guy was acting all blunt and neutral, the next thing he's pouring his heart and practically falling apart in front of her. "Why?"

"Because I deserve it." Frost stated bluntly as he continued to hold his arms out in a defenseless manner. "It's my fault that Neo had that damned drug forced into her system as we were fed by them, slowly losing her mind to those that would take advantage of her skills. She nearly killed you because of that, so instead of you taking it out on her I'm offering an alternative." Frost braced himself slightly as he stated this option. "Hit me. Do to me what you would have intended for her were she in front of you right now. Don't hold back and don't stop even if I say it hurts. This is what I have had coming since day one, and I am not letting the world keep kicking her down when she doesn't deserve it." It was a few moments of neither side moving before he gave Yang a fierce look before practically screaming, " **HIT ME!** "

Yang slowly started walking towards him as he continued to stare at her, unflinching in his stance. It was at this moment that Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all came sprinting around the corner, having just heard Frost's yell. Upon seeing the three of them out of the corner of his eye, Frost gave a small smile before closing his eyes and wincing slightly in preparation for the first blow to hit him. The three girls yelled for Yang and Frost to stop as Yang continued to slowly walk towards him. But that didn't matter to Frost. He was finally going to have some karma come his way for the things he had done. And he was okay with it. He was even prepared for it.

So why was there no pain? In fact, why was it suddenly warmer and softer than before? And why could he suddenly smell sweat? It was because of this that Frost cracked one eye open for a moment, the other quickly following in shock as he noticed what was going on.

Yang was hugging him. Not beating him senseless like he deserved, but hugging him, like someone would for those they cared about deeply, or felt sorry for. But that didn't make any sense! He had done nothing but wrong before coming here, so why did the universe keep sending people at him that would try to make him forget about what he had done?!

Tears came to his eyes as he let his arms go limp at his sides in Yang's hug. "Why?!" He croaked out as he looked towards the sky in defeat.

"Because." Yang stated as she held him a little tighter. "You need to forgive yourself. Like I did when I was younger."

Frost managed a weak laugh as tears occasionally streamed down his face. "What could you have possibly done that marks up with my mistakes?"

"Try a young girl trying to find out about her missing mom by going out into the woods with no food or water, her little sister in a cart, and Grimm all around that could have killed them in a heartbeat. All because she got selfish and wanted to find out about why she had been abandoned."

Frost's eyes widened as he looked down towards the mass of blonde hair obscuring Yang's face before he turned towards Blake with a shocked look on her face. The faunus nodded her head slightly as Frost turned his gaze back towards the girl currently residing in his personal space. "That…really doesn't sound all that good."

"Nope." Yang shook her head slightly before continuing, "But thankfully our Uncle happened to have been following us and stopped the Grimm before we turned into snack for them that day. Our dad was beyond furious at first before he fell to his knees and held Ruby and I tight that day. He'd lost mine and Ruby's moms, and the thought of losing the two of us had nearly broken him. I don't know what would have happened if Qrow hadn't been there when he was, but for a long time it always hurt to think about how stupid a decision it had been. Aside from choosing to go out without supervision to search, and not thinking ahead enough in general however, there was nothing else I could have controlled."

"But it's still different from my situation." Frost stated as he attempted to separate himself from Yang's grip to no avail. "You were young and didn't know any better. For me this was something that happened in the last few months and should have been avoidable had I been using my head. I could have just not caused the building to collapse, or acted the way I did when I ran into you and Blake. I could have actually tried to get to her when I attempted to escape the compound with the book. But I chose the path that caused more harm than good in the end, just like I always manage."

"Did you really?" Blake asked as Frost turned to look at her in confusion. "When you did each of those things, what did you have on your mind at the time?"

"Well…" Frost started as he thought to himself about each of those moments. "When I caused the warehouse collapse, I was thinking about being a Huntsman at the time and how I didn't want someone else to go through what Neo and I went through growing up." Yang stepped away from Frost without him noticing as he continued to think aloud, giving the other girls a surprised look at that statement. "And when I ran from the building with the book, it was because I could have easily been killed trying to reach Neo when others interfered in my efforts to get her, so I ran to find Ironwood to attempt a rescue as fast as possible without caring about if they were still chasing me or not." The others gave each other a few knowing looks as he continued on. "And when I met the two of you, the only thing on my mind was still the thought of getting her out of there as fast as possible, and I just saw the two of you as a roadblock I needed to jump over."

"Now think back to when you actually confronted someone in any of those cases. Whether it was running from the building, meeting us, or even when you used to work for Torchwick." Blake continued as Frost looked at her in perplexity. "Did you ever WANT to hurt anyone?"

Frost's fists clenched as he stared her down in determination. "No!...Okay well maybe not for most of those. I would have loved to leave a few gifts for the ones that got in my way at the warehouse, but my biggest concern was Neo's wellbeing and the information that would prove our innocence. And whenever I ran into guards at any Dust facilities or into the two of you, my largest priority was avoid as much conflict as possible and if fighting occurred I went for knockouts rather than kill shots like a lot of the White Fang preferred. Thankfully I had proven previously I was the better fighter amongst them, so I would usually handle the guards with Neo while the Fang would make off with the Dust. I didn't need blood on my hands, and I didn't need bloodthirsty revolutionaries sating their stupid appetites whenever they wanted."

"Then that's it." Yang stated from beside him with a smile on her face and her arms crossed in front of her as the other all stood with relaxed and pleased looks on their faces as well.

"What do you mean, that's it?" Frost asked as he spread his arms out of renewed confusion. "I got people hurt! I made mistakes that cost others a part of their own livelihood! How can you bow it off like that?!"

"Because you had the decency to admit that you were doing it for a good reason." Weiss stated simply from amidst the group. "While the execution of these intentions could have been better, you never meant anyone lasting harm or ill intent that didn't deserve it."

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed to get her own words in. "You're not a bad person! You just got caught up in the wrong places at the wrong time, that's all!"

Frost stared at the four girls, his mouth flapping like that of a fish for a few moments before Yang chuckled and closed his mouth with one hand and a smirk on her face. This seemed to snap Frost out of his state as he shook his head slightly.

"I…I don't get it." He stammered briefly. "I do all of these things, make all of these mistakes, and you're just going to forgive me…just like that?!"

"Yep." Yang stated with a smirk. "And do you know why?"

"Not really, no."

"Because you deserve it. That's why."

Frost frowned slightly before sighing and putting his hands on his hips while shaking his head with a small smile. "That's turnabout play and you know it."

"It's still true though."

"Fine." Frost stated as Ruby gave a celebratory yell before flying forwards and hugging Frost tight around the middle with a pained grunt on his part. He laughed slightly at the awkward looks Blake and Weiss were giving each other. "There's no need for everyone to hug me, I've never been much of the type for it to be honest."

"Good luck with that considering who you have latched onto you right now." Yang stated as she continued to watch the spectacle of Frost awkwardly keeping his arms up while Ruby attempted to drown his sorrows in warm, cuddly hugs.

Frost looked down towards the small redhead currently occupied with attempting to squeeze the life out of his abdomen before glancing towards the other girls. "I'm probably going to have to get used to this, huh?"

"There's no probably about it, I'm afraid." Weiss stated as she looked on with a small smile of her own.

"You're going to have to just deal with it." Blake finished.

Frost smiled gently as he put a hand on Ruby's head for a moment, causing the young girl to look up at him with confusion before seeing the look on his face and returning to hugging him.

"You know…I think I'm okay with that now."


	18. Chapter 18

**So this chapter may feel a bit more filler-y than other chapters, but I did want to do this one as a sort of bridge between the last one and future chapters. Frost has definitey gotten past his darker points, but he'd never really been given a huge chance to really thank everyone. Also, for anyone that has ever been in a dark place before, whether it be full-on depression or something akin to it, even having people to talk to can make a world of difference, hence the inclusion of Team JNPR given how they had interacted with Frost, even if it wasn't as much as Team RWBYs interactions with him.**

 **Either way, I am very much looking forward to future chapters since we'll be delving into Volume 3 territory and a much more actiony part of the story. Thanks again to those that have been here for the long haul, and for those just now joining in? Any and all feedback on thoughts, concerns, and other general stuff would be much appreciated as it helps me polish up on something that I already love immensely. Being able to do this for you guys and myself is an incredibly liberating thing, and I hope I can do this for quite some time to come.**

* * *

Frost took a relaxing breath as he strolled through the dark reaches of his dreamscape. With his hands casually tucked into his pockets as he traveled on Frost was, for once, at peace with himself. Or at least…most of himself.

An ominous figure was fast approaching from the opposite direction, its intent as plain as the darkness surrounding the two of them- it was here for Frost. As the two neared each other they stopped at the same time, Frost standing with a neutral expression while the shadowy figure seemed to glare at him from behind the darkness that seemed to bend and weave across its face.

"So…we gonna try the same song and dance this time?" Frost asked while he raised one hand from out of his pocket questioningly. "Cause we've done this at least a half a dozen times, and after last night I'm not exactly worried about anything that happens here."

The Shadow emitted a rumbling growl from its throat before speaking, " _You've delayed this confrontation time after time when I came searching for you in the past couple of weeks whenever you've had a relapse of your mood. You've begged, and cried, and even attempted to fight against your inevitable descent in darkness._ " The Shadow paused as it straightened out its own posture, revealing a glowing red eye from its blackened mask. " _Why would you suddenly approach me like an acquaintance when I seek nothing but your destruction?_ "

Frost placed both hands on his sides for a few moments as he chuckled lightly. The Shadow raised an eyebrow with a frown as it examined this out of character attitude. Frost sighed as he raised his head to face his darker self. "Because as much as we may be at odds…you're still a part of me. True you're a more selfish, lethal, dickish part of me, but you're still me."

The Shadow scoffed as it crossed its arms against it chest, turning its head to the side with a sharp huff of breath. " _Do you think I would be so idiotic to think of myself as an extension of you? Clearly you are the weaker half if you think something like that would stop the pain I wish to deal on you._ "

Frost waited a moment as he tapped one of his feet before regarding the shade once more. "If you're done trying to berate me, you could let me finish you know." Frost sighed as he shook his head slightly. "Seriously, if this is what people have to deal with when they talk to me half the time, I have a lot more to apologize for than I thought. But that can wait. Right now I have something more important to deal with."

The shade regarded Frost's determined expression as a glimmer of recollection crossed its red eye. " _Ah, yes. Poor little Neo. The one you chose to leave behind when the going got tough rather than blast your way through those that attempted to bar your path._ " The shade began to slowly pace in a large circle around Frost as it attempted to dig at him with its words. " _She meant so much to you, to US. And yet you left her behind like leftovers when you fled from those blocking your path. Pathetic._ "

"If you're trying so hard to berate me for things that have already transpired, then I don't get what you're trying to accomplish," Frost stated with a roll of his eyes. "You end up targeting yourself with those words as much as you throw them at me. So maybe I should have fought more, maybe I should've put more effort into reaching Neo first before I left. But I didn't, and saying a bunch of what if's stopped working a long time ago. So maybe I need to try something else."

"I'm sorry."

The shade froze mid-step as those two words carried from Frost's lips into the dark reaches of the dreamscape. It then turned and regarded Frost with an intrigued look in its eye as it slowly approached the white-haired boy. " _What did you say?_ "

"I said, 'I'm sorry'." Frost stated simply.

The shade stood in front of him as it regarded his straightened posture and stern expression, before cracking a fist against the side of his head with a disgusted expression. Frost stumbled a bit before he was able to right his balance, feeling his head for a moment in case there was anything like blood before remembering that he couldn't bleed in a dream from something like that. Frost then turned to once again face the Shadow as it clenched its fists tightly at its sides with a murderous glint in its visible eye.

" _DO YOU REALLY THINK A SIMPLE APOLOGY WILL STOP ME?! THAT I WILL CEASE MY EFFORTS TO TEAR YOU ASUNDER JUST BECAUSE YOU BENT OVER AND ASKED FOR MY FORGIVENESS?!_ " Frost easily dodged to the side as the shade sailed at him with its hands outstretched in an effort to grasp his neck tightly. " _MY FURY WILL NOT KNOW ITS END UNTIL YOU HAVE FELT THE PAIN I HAVE FELT SINCE THE DAY THIS ALL BEGAN!_ "

Frost sighed as he snapped his fingers and metal chains sprouted from amidst the black ground before coiling around the shade's wrists and feet, binding it in place before pulling it into a kneeling position. From there Frost walked up to the glaring figure as he sat down on his legs in front of it patiently. He gazed upon the shadow of himself as it struggled against its bonds, the darkness slowly dissipating from its figure to reveal a similar looking person to himself. The only real differences being the shades of black and faded grey that the shade was comprised of rather than the blue, black, and white that was Frost's appearance.

"If I had known that this is what I had done to myself when I repressed all of those emotions and feelings so many weeks ago…" Frost started quietly as the shade pulled at its bindings every now and then while glaring at him. "I would have spoken wholeheartedly about all of this sooner. I should have been honest with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang from the beginning, but instead I gave them the cold shoulder and attempted to carry the weight of my burdens on my own shoulders without realizing the damage I was doing to myself." He regarded the shade calmly for a few moments as it continued to glare at him, albeit with less struggling than before. "At first I thought you were some sort of lingering presence of that drug Neo and I had been ingesting, but it took me until tonight for it to finally make sense."

" _Oh, really?_ " The Shade replied with a venomous tone as it spat in Frost's face. " _And what did your so called 'brilliance' come up with this time? That I'm a delusion of your mind? That I'm simply a representation of you darker emotions manifest in an effort for you to become stronger when you defeat me?_ "

"Pfft." Frost scoffed as he held back a laugh at that statement. "If everything were that simple I doubt the Grimm would be much of a problem given that they're empowered by the negative emotions of humanity." Frost shook his head slightly as he took a deep breath before continuing. "No, you are me. But not in the sense of physically being me."

"You're more like a representation of my guilty conscience, constantly seeking atonement or retribution for the things that we've done and have yet to be punished for. But think about it. We've been torturing ourselves more than anyone else after what has happened. Neo forgave us for the warehouse even though she lost her voice. Why? Because we saved her life in the end. The alternative of her dying wasn't something that we could live with, and she was thankful that we just went to that length even though it meant we would keep those scars on our back as a reminder of our mistake." Frost took a moment to examine the shade in front of him, its arms lay slack at its sides as its body seemed to lighten slightly amidst the darkness before he continued.

"We even took the time to get to know a bunch of students at Beacon in our time there. Heck, over the course of the last month we've figured out that Ruby is the most caring person in the whole entirety of Remnant, and that Weiss, even under that cold exterior, is actually someone quite knowledgeable of things and willing to lend an open ear if you just talk to her." The shade once again brightened slightly as Frost continued regaling their past, the shuddering of chains ceasing altogether as they seemed to slowly vanish from its body.

"And as for Blake and Yang? They have been the biggest blessing we could have received since we left the company of Cinder and the others. Despite both of their backgrounds, as well as their experiences with those that have worked with or still work for Cinder and Torchwick, they still let us talk and vent about the things we had done. Blake was the one who opened the door for us to even start having these moments of clarity, while Yang cemented it all by being that last step out of the hole we had dug ourselves into. Every one of them helped us in their own way, whether it be a shoulder to cry on, a person to talk to, or someone who was just there to keep us company when we could use it most. They saved us."

It was after this final declaration that a bright flash emitted from the figure in front of Frost, as a warm feeling washed over him. After the light faded, Frost became aware of his new surroundings. He was currently standing in the empty courtyard in the centre of the Beacon grounds. As he looked around, he eventually noticed another figure that looked exactly like him sitting atop the statue in a similar fashion to how he had been sitting when Yang had come by the night before. The figure was smiling solemnly as it looked out over the gently moving clouds in the sky, the birds chirping sweetly in the distance. It sighed for a moment before hopping down in front of Frost, who now realized he was dressed in his Beacon attire and not in his usual garb. He smiled slightly as the other him clapped a hand to his shoulder, lightly.

"Out of all of the people who had forgiven us, who had told us that things would be alright. There was always one person we forgot to apologize to the most." The other him nodded slightly as its body began to fade and merge into Frost's as a white light began to fill his vision. Frost finally felt a sense of peace as he felt a warm presence fill his being and smiled.

"Ourselves."

* * *

Frost opened his eyes sharply, but not with a sharp jolt in his bed, or a layer of sweat covering his brow. If anything, he felt the most well-rested that he had felt since coming to Beacon. As he carefully slid out of his bed and slipped over to the washroom to get changed for the day, he couldn't help but notice the makings of a beautiful sunrise as it began cresting the mountains in the distance. The shades of red, yellow, and orange amidst the clear blue sky and puffy white clouds left him breathless and with a wide smile before he stepped into the washroom for a couple of minutes.

* * *

After finishing freshening up, Frost once again carefully tiptoed over to the door that led to the hallway, though he flinched when the floor creaked slightly as his foot pressed down on a spot on the floor that happened to be the same one that had alerted Blake the night he had started to gradually open up to them. As Frost turned to look back at the beds, he noticed a set of amber eyes now watching him and his hand that was outstretched for the doorknob.

Blake had one eyebrow raised as she examined the current situation, her mouth beginning the motions of calling out the other girls names to wake them in the event he was suddenly about to run off. A sharp motion for Blake to stop from Frost managed just that, as he motioned out into the hall to Blake before he gently opened the door. After a moment of him holding the door open, Blake rolled her eyes with a small smile before climbing out of her own bed and walking past Frost into the hall as he shut the door behind them. Before she could speak however, Frost opened his mouth first.

"Okay, so I know how that might have looked a moment ago. Considering what just happened last night I can understand the concern you guys might have about me dashing off or something now that you all know the truth. But that wasn't what I was doing. You have to believe me." Frost stated pleadingly as he looked at Blake.

"So you're telling me you weren't about to sneak out of the room and go somewhere else without the rest of us knowing?" Blake asked as she raised an eyebrow once again.

"…Okay, it is what it looked like." Frost admitted as he scratched the back of his head with one hand. He raised a finger as Blake began to open her mouth once again before continuing. "But it's not for the reason you think. I know that today is a day off and that everyone will still be sleeping in for a couple hours. But that's why I need to go right now and take care of something. It's not life-threatening, or anything of that sort, and I promise I'll be back in time for when everyone is waking up. Just let me go and do my thing, okay?" Frost pleaded as he looked with Blake with his hands clasped in front of him.

Blake uncomfortably looked to the side as she was unable to meet the sad look on Frost's face. Someone needed to tell him soon that his attempt at puppy dog eyes was disturbing and should never be repeated by him. Ever. She eventually caved however, as she sagged her shoulders in defeat. "Fine. Just make sure to be back in time for Ruby's alarm."

"Promise." Frost stated as he saluted her comically. "And just to be sure you can trust me, if I'm not back within 5 minutes of the alarm, you have permission to send Ruby and Yang out hunting for me."

Blake widened her eyes slightly at his statement as she thought about how that could end up. "Are you sure?" She looked almost worried as she looked at the white-haired boy.

"Completely." Frost stated as he turned Blake around and started to usher her towards the door as he carefully opened it with one hand. "Now go back to sleep with the others. I promise everything will be fine when I get back."

Blake hesitated slightly before nodding her head with a quiet sigh as she carefully closed the door in front of Frost with a light click. The white-haired youth waited a few moments before nodding his head briefly and started to lightly jog down the halls of the dorms while making as little noise as possible as he approached his destination. After about 5-10 minutes of jogging down a few flights of stairs, he arrived at a set of double doors and pushed them open to reveal where he would be spending the next near 2 hours. A wild smirk appeared on his face as he examined the battlefield before him.

"Showtime."

* * *

Nearly two hours later, a blaring sound could be heard coming from Team RWBY's dorm as 3 of the girls all groaned out their displeasure. The fourth however, was patiently watching the door as she occasionally snuck glances towards the clock on her scroll. After she had closed the door, Blake had been unable to get back to sleep and had instead elected to continue reading more Ninjas of Love without fear of being bothered by her teammates. Her fast reflexes resulted in her treasured book quickly finding its way in a secret nook under her pillow before anyone's eyes could adjust enough to see it.

Yang hopped down from her bunk as she stretched loudly, numerous joints popping and groaning as she did her morning stretches. Ruby turned her head to look outside and admire the morning view and sunshine while Weiss berated the logic that said they needed to be awake so soon on a day that did not in fact require being up for anything like classes, tests, fights, or anything of the like. Blake gave a small smile as she beheld the girls usual antics as the clock on her scroll beeped at the 5 minute mark she had set earlier.

As she turned to hesitantly unleash Ruby and Yang upon the campus, a light knocking could be heard from their door, no other noise coming from it as all of the girls gave each other confused looks. The knocking once again sounded on their door, to which Yang shrugged as she strolled forward to yank it open with a slight glint to her eyes and being interrupted before getting cleaned up for the day.

Her mouth was unable to move or make sounds as she came face-to-face with a cart holding four plates of one of the best breakfasts she had ever laid eyes upon. The other girls sniffed the air as the scent of freshly scrambled eggs, warm toast, still steaming sausage links, and a warm bowl of oatmeal sat upon each large plate. The sound of knocking and smell of food was even enough to warrant the opening of Team JNPR's door as Jaune looked out to see what was going on. He and the other members of Team JNPR reacted in a similar fashion as they, too, noticed the assorted spread that lay on the cart sitting in the hallway.

It wasn't until the sound of someone clearing their throat reached their ears that everyone noticed Frost smirking as he stood with his arms crossed by the cart. He motioned for Tea JNPR to come over as he carefully wheeled the cart past Yang and gently stopped it in the centre of the room. He then stepped out into the hall to grab a few folding chairs her had grabbed before setting them around the room for Team JNPR as they began to shuffle into the room with varying degrees of alertness.

It was a few moments of awkward silence as Frost walked past everyone and sat casually down on his own cot as he propped his back against the wall with his hands behind his head. "Well? Dig in already."

"Umm…what is this?" Weiss was the first to voice the question on all of their minds as everyone took turns looking between Frost and the tray of food in front of them.

"What do you m-" Frost started as he looked at the cart before smacking himself on the forehead. "Wait, I got this." Frost stated as he hopped off his bed before reaching onto a second layer of the cart of retrieving four MORE plates of food that he distributed to Team JNPR before retrieving a couple stacks of glasses and a pitcher of freshly squeezed juice as he set them on the desk between the two sets of beds. "There we go. All good." He then returned to casually sitting on his bed as the others gave him odd looks except for Nora, who had already begun digging into her plate of food. The rest of Team JNPR shrugged their shoulders as they each grabbed some juice before sitting at one of the chairs that Frost had set out.

Team RWBY however, was still more than a little confused. What had happened to the guy that had practically fallen at their feet weeping just the night before as he let out all of his frustrations and grievances from his past few months. How had he 180d so fast that he was acting like… _this_ the very next day. It was Weiss who once again broke the silence of the room.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Hmm?" Frost queried as he turned his head to face her, a calm smile apparent on his face.

"When I asked you what was going on, you ignored me and instead grabbed even more food to give to Team JNPR. What happened to last night?" Weiss snapped as she glared at the white-haired boy who calmed his expression down to a more neutral state.

Team JNPR paused amidst their plates of food as they noticed the tension suddenly filling the air as the girls of Team RWBY all gave Frost varying looks of concern or frustration. They also turned to face Frost, but with looks of confusion as he sighed slightly.

"I kinda figured this might happen given how chipper I've been this morning." Frost scratched his chin as he contemplated how to proceed. "How about I start with this."

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting lately."

"What…do you mean?" Pyrrha calmly asked as she gently set her plate atop the nearby bookshelf, now aware that things were not necessarily as cheerful as they originally appeared.

Frost chuckled slightly as he faced Team JNPR. "You guys haven't really been in the loop as much lately given how quiet I've probably been in the past. Let's just say that last night I had a very though-provoking conversation with Yang, after having similar ones with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake over the last few weeks. They got me to taking a serious look at myself while I was sleeping last night, and I came to a conclusion." Frost took a deep breath as he sat a little straighter on his bed. "I've been a colossal idiot."

"Colossal? Personally I think it's a bit more severe than- Hey!" Weiss was interrupted by Yang popping her lightly on the shoulder in an effort to stem her tirade.

"Be that as it may, that doesn't exactly explain any of this." Blake stated as she gestured towards the spread of food in the room.

"To be honest, I wanted to grab a table with the chairs, but I only had so much arm space and-" Frost noticed a frown being given to him in varying strengths by all of Team RWBY. "…I'm getting off topic. Needless to say, this is my way of apologizing for the way I've been acting on and off the past few weeks, as well as for all of you being friends to me when I really needed it."

"But…all we've done is talk with you." Jaune stated as Team JNPR nodded their assent. "Why make this for us as well?"

"Because even by just being there from time to time and striking up conversation, you guys made me feel like I belonged here. It wasn't just a request from Ozpin and Ironwood for me to be here by that point. I felt welcomed and treated as though this was where I had always been meant to be. And that meant a lot to me." Frost smiled as he turned towards the others. "Now go on and grab some food already before it gets cold, sheesh!"

The four girls all looked at each other before shrugging slightly and each grabbing a plate and utensils from the cart. Each of them began to dig into their food, suddenly becoming aware of the flavour on top of the scent it had been teasing them with this whole time. Ruby and Yang nearly drooled as they began to shovel into their food in earnest along with Jaune and Nora, while the other four chose to eat their food at a more modest pace while still enjoying it.

After everyone had finished eating their morning meals, they all sighed contentedly as they sat around the room with varying degrees of peace. It was Yang that broke the silence of the room as she turned to regards Frost from his perch during the time that the rest of them had been eating.

"So where's your food?" She asked as she used a toothpick between a few of her teeth.

"I had something to eat while I was cooking everything. I've never been one to eat a large meal in the mornings, so I've been good for a while now." Frost descended from his cot to the floor as he reached down to the lower level of the cart and retrieved what looked like a plate of chocolate chip cookies that he set on the now empty desk due to all of the used dishes sitting piled on the top level of the cart.

"Can we do this every day?!" Ruby squealed with a laugh from Frost as everyone gave the plate of cookies an odd look.

"Not every day Ruby." Frost stated as the redhead snatched a couple cookies despite Weiss' protests before inhaling them just as quickly. Nora wasn't too far behind as she also grabbed a few confectioneries before returning to her seat and giving one to Ren as he nodded a small thanks.

"Either way, this is still kind of weird, even for you, dude." Yang stated as she spoke to Frost while others nodded in agreement.

"It's probably a bit of the personality I liked to use when I would help make meals for the other kids at the orphanage as I grew up. I got used to helping out with that sort of thing, as Weiss already knows." A small nod of the heiress' head agreed with this as the others looked to Weiss for clarification. "And I felt that this would be a lot easier of a way to thank you guys then trying to figure something out over the long term. So I went with my gut instinct."

"Well if this is what your gut instinct tells you," Yang started as she gave him a smirk. "Hopefully it ends up coming up with more smart ideas like this one down the road!"

"Believe me, I hope so too." Frost stated with a simple smile. "But let's worry about that when it comes, alright? I'm quite content to sit back and relax for today, so let's keep it that way, alright?"

There were no disagreements as everyone nodded their approval before going about casual conversation with one another. Between conversations, Frost couldn't help but look outside and smile as he admired the sun as it seemed to glow a little bit brighter that day.


	19. Chapter 19

**So first things first. I will apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but it is mostly for the purpose of some lead-in to the events of Volume 3. I felt like a confrontation like this was going to happen at some point, and this seemed as good an opportunity. Otherwise I intend for the chapters to gradually return to the longer lengths they have been as of recent posts. Some may be short like this one considering that they feed off the events of certain episodes given what I saw as relevant events to my story.**

 **On that note, I am now going to quiver in a corner as I figure out what my response to Ruby's confrontation to Torchwick/Neo is going to be like tomorrow, as well as the fight against Captain Edgelord Adam. The airship confrontation is going to seriously affect how I write stuff in that section of the season given that I'll have to change some scenes slightly, ideally with minimal impact to the way things progress on their own.**

* * *

"It's the heiress and the bimbo." Emerald stated with a small smirk as she and Mercury continued to walk in the opposite direction of Team RWBY. Mercury paused for a moment as he hummed in thought.

"Alright, at least now we know who we're working with."

The two of them casually strolled through the fairgrounds to pass the time, completely unaware of a figure following them from a distance. Once or twice the pair would pause to comment on some of the students they saw and what they remembered from their recon on how most of them fought. It wasn't until the two were reaching the edge of the grounds and beginning to head towards the floating stadium that they were stopped by a hand placed on each of their shoulders. They both whipped about in surprise, arms raised in defense considering the silence of the approach. Their faces were both adorned with displeased frowns as they came face to face with the person that had stopped them.

"And how are my two favorite Cinder fans doing?" Frost stated with a smirk on his face, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. Anyone able to see his eyes would only notice the seething rage floating behind them, lying dormant for the time being.

"What do you care?" Emerald stated with a wave of her hand as she crossed arms in front of her while Mercury shuffled his feet a bit with a smirk of his own. "Besides, what exactly did you expect to happen with this? That we'd just magically give up Neo and be on our merry way?" She scoffed as she took a step closer to Frost, her face gaining a malicious grin as she stared at his hate-filled eyes.

Frost rolled his eyes as he took a small step backwards to distance himself from the green-haired girl, refusing to let her block his view of Mercury in case they attempted to try anything, even in a public area like this. "Clearly the two of you still think I'm a fool. Guess I was hoping for too much to think that _maybe_ after I managed to escape all three of you that you'd have a bit more respect for someone more evasive than a _common thief_."

Emerald's eyes narrowed as Mercury elected to lean against a nearby tree to enjoy the fireworks. "I'd watch what I say if I were you, dust-for-brains." Mercury stated as Emerald's hands balled into fists a few times. "Em doesn't exactly appreciate being called a 'common thief' as you put it. It hurts her pride."

"Stay out of this, Mercury." Emerald spat with a slight turn of her head before focusing on Frost once more. "Besides, we still have Neo with us after all. I'd watch my tone and attitude if I were you unless you're okay with her getting roughed up a bit." The two were surprised to notice that Frost didn't even flinch at this threat, as he normally would have in weeks past if they ever crossed paths.

Frost faked a yawn as he patted his open mouth for a moment. "If you had told me this a few days ago, I might have believed that you'd go ahead and do something like that. But then I noticed something rather interesting in your match that took me a little while to find out." Frost looked at the two of them casually as they tried to puzzle out what he was referring to. "Want me to spoil it for you?"

"What are you even talking about, you idiot?" Emerald snapped as she gave Mercury a look to see if he knew, her only response being a shrug of his shoulders. "What _exactly_ did you piece together?"

Frost turned and starting pacing back and forth if front of the two of them, his eyes never leaving them as he walked about like someone giving a lecture. "Well, I couldn't help but wonder who the three of you could possibly rope into fighting with you during the tournament so that you'd have a legitimate four-man team. So I got to thinking about the different goons that work for you guys- be it the White Fang or Junior's goons. Then I realized that unless you took the guy with the big-ass chainsaw sword- who was both way too big and I still don't know what happened to that guy- or someone new. But if it were someone new, there's no way you would trust a greenhorn to something so pivotal for Cinder to be acting on the frontlines, herself. So it would have to be someone working for you that was obedient, small, and able to blend in well. Wonder who I came up with?"

"Neo…" Emerald sighed in disgust. "…So now what? You gonna rat us out?" Emerald's face gained a predatory gleam as she put together two and two. "Because I doubt Cinder would be willing to just let Neo go quietly if she finds out you rushed off to go tell Ironwood and Ozpin and us hiding in their midst."

"Then it's a good thing I didn't then, huh?" Frost continued to smirk as both Emerald and Mercury stumbled a bit from their current positions at this statement. Both looked at each other with perplexed expressions before turning back to face the calm white-haired boy in front of them.

"You expect us to believe that?" Mercury asked as he raised a hand in disbelief. "You hate us as much as we hate you, so why would you NOT just go screaming as soon as you figured it out?"

"Because then it becomes harder to rescue Neo _unharmed_ , now doesn't it?" Frost replied as he crossed his arms with a smug look on his face.

Emerald and Mercury both looked back and forth between each other and Frost for a few moments…right before both bending over in fits of laughter that left tears in their eyes.

"Glad to see that the two of you find this so amusing."

Mercury sighed as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Y-you're kidding right? You're gonna try and take her back on your own?" His smile was filled with mirth as he took a deep breath with one final chuckle.

"You really are just as much of an idiot as you ever were." Emerald stated as she and Mercury turned to start walking away towards the colosseum for the fight with Team JNPR. "Let us know when you're coming to get her, maybe we'll leave the door open for you."

Frost smirked as he replied to their departing backs. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll just let myself in when the time comes." His legs began to glow slightly before he left his parting words. "Besides, I want to see the surprise on your faces when I actually pull it off."

Emerald and Mercury both turned to leave a parting quip, only to find some now-settling leaves and a small cloud of dust as their only companions. The two gave each other a brief look before Mercury opened his mouth. "Gotta give him credit, it was a good exit."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

"Let's give the crowd a good fight." Cinder stated as she manipulated the scroll in front of her. Emerald and Mercury were moments away from the door before Emerald stopped and turned towards the brunette with a sudden look of remembrance.

"There's…something else as well." She started, reluctantly.

Cinder turned to eye her briefly before returning her attention to the scroll as he moved to rest it on the desktop. "I see…and is there any reason you didn't think to mention this sooner?" Cinder slowly got up from her reclining position at the table before walking towards the window to the room as she looked out towards the night sky.

"I only just remember now but…it's Frost. He knows Neo's here with us." Emerald paused for a moment, though Cinder never showed any sort of response to this statement. "What should we do about that? He claims he won't rat us out since he plans to get Neo before doing anything like that, but I don't buy it."

"Well you should." Cinder stated with a turn as she gave a smirk to the other two present. "He's obviously telling the truth. His bleeding heart wouldn't let him take the risk for his dear friend even if it meant keeping everyone else in the dark about our presence. Why do you think I was so pleased with his decision to leave without her?" Emerald and Mercury both gave each other a look before shrugging in Cinder's direction. She sighed for a moment before continuing.

"Because she is an obedient bargaining chip. Her abilities with illusions will prove to be quite useful in the days to come, and having her in our grasp will keep his lips sealed. As soon as her effectiveness is at an end, we dispose of her and watch as his spirit crumbles into despair before dealing with him as well. No sooner than that will we be done with the two of them. For now however, we sit tight, and wait for the games to play out in our favor."


	20. Chapter 20

**So here is another relatively short chapter as a response I had to V3E5 when it had aired. There was, in particular, one moment I saw that connected a little too well to this story and I could not pass up the chance to expand on it a bit for the purposes of this story. On another note, I am absolutely terrified and excited for what Miles, Kerry, and Gray throw at us this weekend with the V3 finale. At this point I know where I'll be hopping out of what Team RWBY is doing to follow a little event in E11 that I saw a great deal of potential in. Other than that, I hope everyone is as eager to see what the RWBY team was in store for us! In the meantime, enjoy the next installment of this story.**

* * *

"Soooo…remind me again why you guys decided on Weiss and Yang for the doubles round?" Frost asked between bites of popcorn as he glanced over towards Ruby and Blake. "I mean Yang I get, what with her Semblance and her being a really good close-quarters fighter, but why Weiss? Wouldn't it be difficult for her to use half of her glyphs given how they require prep time that she would have less of in a 2v2 situation rather than a 4v4 fight?"

Blake gave a wry grin as Ruby giggled lightly before responding. "Come on silly! Give Weiss a little more credit than that! Her Glyphs have been what's helped us win a whole bunch of fights up to this point!" Ruby looked upwards with a ponderous look as she began listing off different fights aloud. "Let's see…there was the Nevermore during initiation…that mech that Torchwick used during the White Fang rally…that ice crystal she made so we wouldn't get hurt from the train crashing through into the city-" Frost pounded a fist against his chest as he choked on some popcorn for a moment before sputtering out a remark.

"Hang on, she did what?!" Frost exclaimed as he looked over towards Ruby and Blake's nonchalant expressions. He shook his head clear for a moment before giving the two of them a shocked look. "I can barely manage to make a regular sized shield with my Semblance and the dust inside my bracer. How the heck does she manage something like that without any ice to begin with? That rapier cannot hold that much Dust inside of it, there's no way."

"Well of course not, duh."

Blake smiled slightly before turning back to Frost. "What Ruby means to say is that Weiss' Glyphs draw on assorted objects as well as Dust to activate. Didn't you notice when she made that large block of ice in our fight with Team ABRN?"

"I mean I saw it get formed, sure." Frost stated as he scratched the back of his head. "But I wasn't really focusing on who made it. I was more interested by the setup you guys did with slingshotting Yang around like you did. Seriously, that was pretty sweet. I imagine she enjoyed that a lot judging from the giant grin she had on during it."

"You realize that Weiss made that giant ramp as well, right?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Blake said with a smug look as she turned back to face the arena as Yang and Weiss began to enter the open field.

"I still wonder why you guys didn't consider more of the options if you or Ruby had joined in with Yang instead. Or even Weiss for that matter. Or have the two of you fight, even." Frost said with a shrug of his shoulders as Ruby leaned over from the opposite side of Blake to add her own take on the conversation.

"As much as we considered it, Yang was an obvious choice for the doubles round. I may be fast, but I've never been that good at long fights given how my Semblance works. And since Blake's clones are more for dodging out of the way of hits, she can only dodge for so long before she gets tired out from whoever they fight against. And since Weiss can still do a few things with her Glyphs in a short amount of time, she seemed the obvious second choice to go on."

"Fair enough, I guess. I still think that running circles around them until they throw up is a viable battle strategy." Frost stated as he turned his own attention to the field as Yang and Weiss' opponents entered the field, even as Blake and Ruby cringed slightly at his suggestion. His jaw immediately dropped however, as they all heard Neon's comment to Yang about her…proportions. "Did…she just insult her chest size?"

"Oh, here we go."

* * *

The trio watched the fight go on for a while as blows were exchanged. Or more accurately, as Weiss and Flynt traded blows and Neon continued to aggravate Yang, who had yet to land a single blow on the colorful Faunus. Frost decided to focus more on Weiss and Flynt after a while as Yang continued as Yang continued to get toyed with, only for his eyes to widen in shock and his mind begin to go into a panic even as Ruby and Blake yelled out Weiss' name. After all, teammates would do that after seeing one of their own take a nosedive into a geyser of flame to attempt to take out their opponent. Unfortunately, it was for naught as Flynt emerged from the smoke only partly singed while Weiss lay unconscious on the ground.

"Nonononono..." Frost started muttering under his breath with a look of fear in his eyes. Blake and Ruby both noticed this and gave each other a worried look for a moment even as they turned back to see Yang finally finish up the fight. The two of them immediately got up to rush to their teammates to congratulate them even as Frost sat rooted to his seat. His knuckles were beginning to turn white as his grip tightened on the armrests. If one looked closely they could even see that his arms were glowing white slightly as he began to lose control of his Semblance in the high-stress scenario.

Frost began to sweat as his thoughts continued to scatter silently. " _Not again. Please not again. I've already seen this once and I don't think I can handle it happening again to someone that I consider a friend or closer. This is just a dream...Yeah! That's it! I'm just imagining how the fight is going to play out. In fact, it's still the night before and the fight has yet to even be determined. There's no way this is actually what happened. Nope. Just a hallucination. Nothing at all to-"_ His thoughts were immediately brought to a halt as he was carefully approached by Team RWBY, who were all regarding his lost expression with varying degrees of concern.

"Hey…Frost? You there?" Yang asked slowly as he turned his head to face them with a bit of a crazed look in his eye.

"Hey guys!" Frost said with a slightly higher pitch to his voice and a plastered smile on his face. "I hope that your fight tomorrow goes better than this dream one did! Getting hit in the face with a pillar of fire can't be good for your voice, so try not to do that in the doubles round, OK Weiss?"

"Umm…okay, can someone explain why Frost is acting like he's broken?" Ruby asked with a worried look towards her teammates. "Guys?"

Weiss gave a deep sigh which ended in a brief cough as she ejected a bit more smoke from her lungs. "I think I know…but I need to get my throat cleared, first."

"That's a good idea! Can't have you losing the ability to talk or anything like that!" Frost said with a crazy look as a few observers slowly walked away with grimaces or looks of worry on their faces as well at the odd spectacle.

"Come on Frost, let's go." Yang walked forward and gently pried his hands from the armrests, wincing slightly at the obvious indentations from where his hands were digging into the metal armrests.

"Sure thing Yang!" Frost exclaimed as he hopped up from the seat the moment his hands were no longer gripping the chair. He gave them all eager looks as they all gave him worried glances before heading off towards the medical centre aboard the colosseum. They all jumped slightly as Frost's voice immediately burst out again. "And can someone let me know if they see Torchwick? Since this is a dream, I bet I can get him to let me beat him up…you know, for science!"

They all grimaced as they continued onward, many other viewers of the tournament giving them a wide berth as they noticed Frost's crazed expression.

* * *

"So you're telling me I had a crazy look on my face, was constantly muttering under my breath, and even scared off a few people since I was claiming that they were all figments of my imagination?" Frost asked with an eyebrow raised as he gave a deadpan look to those around him.

Weiss had, in the time it had taken for the relaxants to take effect, gotten herself cleaned up and taken a few pills and a glass of water to help her replenish her Aura levels a little faster to speed along the healing process of her throat. The doctor had recommended that she avoid speaking too much for the rest of the day so that way her voice could go back to normal a little faster. The rest of the team had made sure to keep an eye on Frost while they waited for the drugs to take effect on him and bring him back from his panic attack. Now the five of them were sitting in the dorms as the girls gave Frost looks as they awaited explanation.

"Yup, pretty much." Yang stated bluntly while Weiss gave her a swat on the shoulder. "What? He asked, and I answered."

"Have a bit more tact than that, Yang." Weiss stated with a stern look as she regarded the blonde brawler.

"Yeah, Yang! We still haven't had a chance to let Frost explain why he freaked out like that!" Ruby exclaimed from her space on one of the two lower beds as they al turned back to face Frost.

"And here I thought I could cleverly dodge around that one…" Frost groaned as he slumped over in defeat. After a few moments of silence, he let out a deep breath as he looked up to face the girls once more. "Fine. I'll explain as best as I can from what the doctors told me a few months ago."

"Basically, it all comes down to how this all started. By now you've all heard that the reason I worked for Torchwick in the first place, and why Neo doesn't talk, is because I accidentally blew up a warehouse he was storing a bunch of stolen Dust in. What I never wanted you guys to know was the mental effects it left on me following our treatments whenever I got around fire and large quantities of Dust. In hindsight I guess it explains one reason why Torchwick didn't bring me along for the train operation. I tend to get pretty nervous around that much Dust, and I've been known to let out bursts of energy if I get too emotionally unstable as it turns out. Part of the territory when I'm as inexperienced as I am with my own Semblance. Only having a strong grasp of it for less than a year tends to do that to you. Especially when it's as unstable as it is on a regular basis." The girls all heaved a sigh of relief following Frost's regaling of his diagnosis. They were all familiar with tales of PTSD, given how many huntsmen in history left the job after a too-stressful ordeal that affected either themselves or someone they were close to. It was just another reason to be fully committed to the task but still having someone to talk to in between missions. If huntsmen went out and did missions on their own all of the time, then there would likely be even fewer of them in the world. Hence the importance of teams, both in and out of school.

Frost gave them all a pleading look as their expressions returned to normal from their previously worried states. "Please don't start coddling me now that you know this. The doctors tried to do that, as well as the matron at the orphanage before Neo and I left. It never helped. Just treat like you would any other day, even though you know about this side of me, okay?"

"Did you really think we'd start babying you after hearing something like that?" Yang replied with a smirk as she walked up and ruffled his hair, to which he responded by wincing back and giving her a disgruntled look. "All of us have had to deal with some pretty messed up stuff in our lives, and we don't think differently of each other despite that. It may have shaped a part of who we are, but it doesn't define us. Some of us have even gotten to trying to get that part of our lives to a point where it doesn't bother us anymore. It takes time, but it'll get better, trust me."

Frost smiled as he got up and gave Yang a strong pat on the shoulder. "Thanks, Yang." He then moved to the side to look over her shoulder as he regarded the rest of the girls. "And thanks to you guys as well." He then took a deep breath as he turned to open the door to the hallway before beckoning towards the open hall for the others. "Now…shall we got get something to eat? I don't know about you guys, but I am surprisingly hungry right now."

"Seconded!" Yang exclaimed as she jogged over to the open door, egging the others up as she went.

Frost could only smile and chuckle lightly to himself as he watched Weiss attempt to tell Yang and Ruby to slow down as Blake slowly followed after them. Moments like these had been a very common occurrence for him in the last while, and he could only hope that nothing would happen in the near future that would interfere with the relative peace they were all feeling right now.


	21. Chapter 21

**Another shorter chapter this time. I do however promise that once we're past a one or two more events from Volume 3, things will be branching off as I turn to focus less on Team RWBY and more on some individual stuff for Frost. It will however have to get more crazy before things start to get...better? I really can't see that as being a good way to describe it considering how V3 ended, and I don't plan on altering any of those events in the slightest. Sorry for those of you that might have been hoping for happier stuff. On that note, here is my newest chapter.**

* * *

"I can't believe we're already up to the last chunk of the tournament already." Frost said with a sigh as he leaned back on his cot with his arms crossed behind his head. "To be honest, it feels like these last few days have been a complete blur considering how many matches they've crammed into them amidst all of the other festivities."

"It's been interesting, that's for sure." Blake agreed as she watched Yang doing some stretches on the dorm floor.

The blonde had been like this for the remainder of the previous day after their doubles match, as well as the majority of the current day in anticipation. For a team of first year students to make it this far was already a huge boost to their confidence, but Yang was even more pumped up due to the opportunity she would now have to go up against some of the best Hunters-In-Training from across Remnant. Hopefully this fight would end up being more controlled than the fight against Team FNKI.

"I don't know why you're trying to warm up so much, Yang," Ruby stated as she watched her sister with a wide smile. "You're gonna be fine! You've got this whole thing in the bag!"

"As much as I imagine your sister appreciates the vote of confidence, Ruby, it won't help her at all if she gets complacent. She may end up going against Pyrrha after all, and we all know who would have the advantage there." Weiss stated with her arms crossed as she put her scroll away. "Besides, the final matches will be starting soon, so we should start making our way over now to avoid getting Yang disqualified for being late."

"Aw, come on Weiss," Yang began as she proceeded through a rep of pushups. "Leave Ruby alone, she's just trying to be a cheering squad all on her own is all. It's harmless." The blonde directed her attention towards Ruby next, "Weiss IS right though, Rubes. These are some of the best fighters in Remnant, so I gotta make sure that I'm on top of my game so I can knock 'em all down."

"Well she's not lacking in confidence herself, that's for sure." Frost snarked from his cot as he got up with a stretch of his own. "We may as well start heading out now, I wanna make sure we've got prime seats to see any of the smack downs that are gonna happen. I don't know about any of you aside from Yang, but I've been looking forward to this part for a while." Frost paused as he put a finger to his chin in thought as he spoke aloud. "I wonder what the terrain will be like for the fights. They did 2 fields in the team fights and 4 fields in the doubles round, so does that mean they're gonna cram as many fields as possible in for the 1 on 1 matches?"

"I doubt it," Weiss stated as she got up and started walking towards the door. "The other rounds were more about testing your ability to work together and synchronize your attacks, so these fights will be more a test of pure skill on the part of the individual fighters. It will more likely be an open terrain for fighters to have free range of movement and attack range."

"Now," the heiress began as she pulled open the door while motioning out with the other hand, "Can we please get a move on before they make another late announcement like they did for Team JNPR?"

"Ouch, Weiss. Low blow." Nora stated from the opposite end of the hall as Team JNPR themselves could be seen leaving their own dorms to head towards Amity Colosseum as well. "Save the trash talk for the actual fights, huh?"

"I didn't mean it like-" Weiss started with a huff before Ren silently raised a hand to calm her.

"She's only playing fun, Weiss. Please don't encourage her." The calm boy said as the two groups gathered into the hall and started making their way out.

"Aw, come on Ren! The trash talking is the best part!" The spunky redhead declared as she proceeded through her rant. "We get to throw insults at them, they throw them at us, one of us ends up winning in the end leaving the other sad and defeated in the mud, the winning side starts gloating, the losers start getting mad and yell back, and then everything turns into a giant mess of emotions where no one is friends anymore!" By the time she was done, Nora had once again gone pale and depressed like when the two teams had spoken before Team JNPR's fight against Team BRNZ.

Frost shifted away from the now moody girl for a moment as he leaned over towards Blake. "Is this a normal thing for her?" He whispered so that only the two of them would hear his words.

Blake chuckled slightly as they passed through the doors of the dorm building and started walking to the landing pads where ships waiting to take them to the Colosseum sat patiently. "Only on rare occasions. She got like this too when she was trying to give a pep talk for their fight against Team BRNZ a couple days ago. It'll pass."

"Remind me not to let her give motivational speeches when something big is on the line then."

* * *

"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Professor Port declared as his voice carried across the stadium to everyone cheering for the final fights.

"Break a leg, sis!" Ruby screeched out as the others turned to look at her for a moment.

Frost smirked to himself as Port's voice asked the other fighters to leave the battlefield. " _I wouldn't mind if she broke more than that, too be honest._ " The white-haired boy thought to himself as a section of the field lifted up for the final match. " _Too I'm not down there right now. Yang wouldn't do something like that, but I sure would considering what I know. Man, I can't wait for when I get a chance to get Neo away from Cinder._ " The boy then turned towards Weiss, noticing a proud little smirk on her face due to her correct assumptions about how the final matches would go. He then turned and sat back as Port began the countdown for the fight to begin.

* * *

It was a close match. The two fighters consistently traded blows as they blocked kicks and punches from the opposite person, dodging a few shots from each's respective weapons in the meantime. For a moment it looked like Yang might have had it when she knocked Mercury off balance and he was flung from the field. This moment of predetermined victory was cut short however as the silver-haired boy fired shots from both of his greaves and lifted himself back onto the stadium.

"Damnit!" Frost pounded his fist against the arm of his seat as he'd eagerly hoped that Yang would knock him out quickly. Thankfully the others just saw this as Frost getting heavily into the fight, and not as a vendetta against Mercury like he was harboring.

A few moments later, Mercury immediately turned the tide of the fight when he managed to axe-kick Yang into the field as a barrage of attacks from his boots fell in a hail around Yang, obscuring her in smoke. Everyone sat with baited breath for a moment, only to jolt in surprise when a burst of flame erupted from the cloud as Yang pounded her fists together in a burst of energy. It appeared as though Mercury's attack had been unable to lower Yang's Aura levels to the point of disqualification, and this had given her enough hits for her to activate her Semblance and proceed to wail on Mercury's vulnerable stance.

Frost looked on in confusion for a moment before realizing that Mercury couldn't break his cover to attack Yang in cold blood like he normally would, and then attempted and failed to hold in a large laugh as Yang managed to completely remove all of Mercury's Aura before knocking him flat onto the floor of the field. Everyone proceeded to congratulate Yang from their seats as Frost decided to sit back and enjoy the moment of sudden peace he felt after seeing Mercury finally put in his place in a fight for once.

The moment was short lived however, as Yang suddenly whipped around and proceeded to punch Mercury's leg hard enough for an audible cracking noise to echo across the stadium. The crowd immediately began booing and screaming in shock whilst the rest of Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Frost all looked on in shock and bewilderment. This was Yang! She may get worked up in fights, but she would never stoop to something so low as to cripple an opponent after the fight was over unless they actually deserved it.

While Frost wasn't sorry for Mercury's present predicament, he was more surprised at Yang's sudden turn of face; especially after all of the personal moments and conversations he'd had with each individual member of Team RWBY. Yang had been the last step in him finally forgiving himself for his mistakes, and even refusing to hurt him after knowing everything he'd unintentionally aided in happening. Her suddenly hurting Mercury out of the blue like this left even him speechless. Everything froze for a moment as Yang's sight turned to face her friends and team in the stands, and the confusion on her face made Frost do a double take for a moment as she looked around with realization of her actions. Something was wrong, and that was painfully obvious. But why?

As the others moved to head back to the dorm to talk to Yang and find out what happened, Frost broke off from the group as he attempted to tail Emerald and the paramedics as they carried Mercury away. He immediately snapped against the edge of a wall as they stopped at the call of another person's voice. As the group walked down the side passage, Frost quickly caught up and planted himself against the edge of the doorway as he heard a female voice speaking to one of the paramedics. His blood boiled for a moment as he recognized the new voice in the group.

"We'll take good care of both of them." Cinder stated as the two paramedics started making their way back into the colosseum. Frost immediately took the opportunity to get out of their before getting spotted by them as he hurried off to try and figure out how to deal with this new piece of information. He paused once he was in the clear down another hallway as he pounded the side of his fist against the wall for a moment.

"Damnit! I was that close to being able to tail them to wherever they're hiding between matches, and I couldn't do it without raising alarm to those medics just doing their jobs!" Frost took a moment to take a deep breath as he placed his hands on his hips in contemplation as he shook his head briefly. "Cinder's thought this through a hell of a lot more than I thought. I don't think I'm gonna be able to wait for a chance to grab Neo from them. Once things quiet down a bit, I'm going to have to MAKE an opportunity." Frost paused as he glanced out a nearby window that happened to overlook Beacon with a sigh.

"I just hope the others can try and come out of this with a positive. The four of them not being in agreement or at the very least at some sort of peace could end up spelling a strong chance at whatever Cinder's planning going off without a hitch."


	22. Chapter 22

**So...first thing first.**

 **I can't even begin to describe how sorry I am about the ridiculous wait I have put you all through just for this one chapter. I'll admit, RWBY being done for now and moving into a new place definitely put a bit of a damper on any sort of drive to keep going. But today I decided- I have the outline for the finale fleshed out, I know what's happening and when, so let's just do this. Writer's block be damned I say.**

 **So here is the beginning of the final segments of the story. There is only about another 5-7 chapters left to do at this point, then I will be looking into the sequel for this as I have a couple loose ideas for what I can do. Here's hoping you all enjoy and sorry again for the long delay.**

* * *

Students in the halls quickly stepped to the side as Frost came sprinting by, a determined and focused look apparent on his face as he continued his passage through the dorms. His destination was one very specific place, and he hoped that he would be able to get things moving quickly if he acted fast. It would all depend on those he was going to attempt to speak to.

His gait slowed slightly as he saw Ironwood step out of Team RWBYs dorm as he gently closed the door and started walking away, his robot bodyguards following closely behind him. Frost then picked up his pace briefly before slowing as he came close to the now closed door of the room. Just as he was about to knock however, he could hear voices and conversation from inside. Against his better judgment, he leaned in close so as to better hear what was going on inside.

"…I want to believe you." Frost could hear Blake's voice clearly as he narrowed his eyes, both out of confusion and concern as he continued to listen.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Weiss snapped at their teammate, likely with a disapproving look on her face at Blake's statement given the tone it carried.

"…Blake?" Frost nearly lost his balance for a moment as he could feel the pain in Yang's voice at that question, his hand quickly coming up to cover his mouth to muffle the gasp he let out as he struggled to continue listening. This was very quickly becoming something far more personal sounding than he was willing to eavesdrop on.

"How can you say something like that? Yang would never lie to us!" Weiss stated with her matter-of-face tone as Frost's ears continued to listen in.

Frost could hear a brief sigh for a moment before Blake's voice spoke up again. "I had someone very dear to me change, it-"

That was enough. Whatever was about to be spoken about, Frost had no right to listen in on something like this. It was at that moment that he decided that he would just have to deal with things like he intended in the first place- alone. After all, Team RWBY sounded like they needed to do some bonding and figuring things out as a team, and him invading and claiming stuff about Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder was not going to help things in the slightest. So it was with a heavy heart and a brief look back at their door that Frost decided to start his own investigation into their enemies as he stalked off down the halls of the dorms.

* * *

A few hours of unsuccessful searching and fruitless investigation had Frost sitting at a bench in the courtyard of Beacon, with his head slumped on the top of the wooden bench itself as he sighed deeply. He looked up as he heard the rhythmic sound of footsteps to see Sun strutting back and forth with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held up as though he were marching back and forth. Frost smirked slightly as he saw this, then noticed out of the corner of his eye as Ruby approached Velvet to talk to her while they all waited for the next airship to take them up to the coliseum.

Frost slowly got up and carefully made his way over to the pair, catching parts of the conversation as he got closer. His approach stopped still however when he heard a specific thing come up in their conversation.

"I mean, even experienced fighters can get scared and start seeing things. If it happened to Coco, it can happen to anyone." Velvet said with obvious regret.

"Coco?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu with her in the forest during the fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields." Frost's eyes narrowed as he began to formulate an idea as a few airships landed on the nearby helipad to take passengers up to the arena.

"Stress induced hallucinations, apparently."

"Yeah…I have a feeling there's a lot more to it than _that_." Frost whispered to himself with a slight snarl to his voice as a few people stepped a little away from at the slight creaking his bracer made as he clenched his fists tightly. Now he had an idea for some investigating before the match…and he knew exactly who he was hoping to find.

* * *

Frost frowned as he continued walking down the different hallways of the arena, carefully avoiding any patrolling soldiers or guards that might interfere with his search if his hunch was right. Even if Mercury had been injured during his fight with Yang, the memory of said event causing a brief sadistic smile to appear on Frost's face, Cinder and Emerald would have likely hidden him somewhere while they continued on with their plan. Either way, they had intended to get Yang out of the picture, and he intended on finding out why it was so important.

With that thought in mind, he had to catch himself and duck into a nearby cargo block as he dodged the sight of another guard. As he heaved a quick sigh, he noticed the sound of metal on metal, almost like something being twisted into place or a screwdriver. With his attention now focused on that sound, he slowly started backing into the cargo bay he was in, the sounds of the occasional grunt of effort apparent to his ears as he got closer. As he turned the corner around a particularly large stack, his eyes widened as he caught sight of Mercury turning a screwdriver in what looked like…Mercury's own leg?

Frost quickly jerked backwards to remain behind the stack of boxes as he silently let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His eyes flicked back and forth at the walls around him as he attempted to make sense of what he had just seen. That was when a look of realization came upon his face, his face returning to a neutral expression as he took a few steps out from the boxes, making sure to have his footsteps be hearable by Mercury as he came into view.

The silver-haired youth turned to look at who had shown up, confused by why Cinder or Emerald would be back so soon, his eyes widening a moment in surprise as he finally noticed who was actually with him in the room. His expression quickly returned to his trademark smirk as he slowly took his leg off of the table as he pulled the pant leg down over the cybernetic limb. "Should have known you would find out someday." Mercury stated casually as he shrugged his shoulders from his seat as he proceeded to stand up slowly. "Kind of hard to hide robotic legs a lot of the time when you really think about it."

"Yeah, well aside from the fact that your hiding place is about as obvious as a forest fire, I'd say you've been doing pretty good for yourself." Frost stated as he leaned against the nearby stack of boxes. "At least this explains to how you guys managed to frame Yang for 'breaking your leg'." Frost paused for a moment as he put his finger to his chin in thought before turning his gaze back to Mercury. "Though I'm still curious about something. How exactly did you manage to make Coco see a second Yatsuhashi, and have Yang see you attack her when you just stood there. I could understand if one of you had specifically fought both of them, yet you fought Yang while Emerald fought Coco. And it only apparently happened after her…glasses broke…" Frost slowed down as his eyes widened in realization.

"And he figures it out with time to spare even." Mercury snarked as he stretched his legs a bit after sitting for so long working on the one limb to get it realigned. "Too bad it's still too late to do anything about it."

"You sound pretty sure of that for someone whose about to have his cover blown wide open. I wonder what Cinder will think of you being the one that ruins everything by attempting to hide in plain sight."

"Oh, I doubt there'll be a problem with that. After all, it's kind of hard to rat me out if you're dead." Mercury said with a sadistic look in his eye.

"Just because you're the son of an assassin doesn't mean you're anywhere as good at killing as he would have been."

"Hey, I killed him myself, didn't I?"

"Or so you say. I read Torchwick's book and what he wrote in it you know. Even if the book got roasted by mistake, I still remember what information I saw in there that he was able to find for himself. Plus you don't have Emerald here to cover your sorry ass. Now why don't you turn around and assume the position so that I can kick it out of here?"

"Hmm, tempting…but I'm gonna pass." Mercury stated coolly as he leapt forward with one leg stretched in front of the other. However, just as he was about to make contact with Frost's crossed arms, a figure leapt out of the shadows of a pile of boxes and grabbed Frost in a flash of light, the white-haired boy gone once the flash in Mercury's eyes cleared.

"Eh, whatever." Mercury said as he shrugged his shoulders at the sudden intrusion to a fight he had long been looking forward to. He smiled as he heard a door down the hall open and the sound of padded boots came down the hall. "I've got another guest anyways."

* * *

Frost stumbled to his knees as he reappeared in a flash of light on one of the open helipads on the edge of the coliseum. His eyes snapped from side to side as he attempted to catch a glimpse of whoever had just interfered. He had a hunch about who it was but it didn't sit well with him at all.

"Damnit Neo…" Frost groaned as he caught his breath from his kneeling position. "You know I never liked when you did that, now the least of all possible times. Doesn't help that I'm talking to myself either, but I guess that's life for you. One of these days though you'll be free from Cinder, I swear it on my life." Frost then heaved a sigh as he got to his feet and started making his way to the battlefield as the signal for the start of the fight went off.

* * *

When Frost arrived on the viewing platform, he quickly found a seat oddly empty near the front as he watched Penny and Pyrrha trade blows and attacks as the match went on. What seemed odd however, was the fact that Pyrrha didn't seem to be in her normal state of mind as to when she normally fought. Frost could see glimpses of hesitation and confusion on her face as though something was off, and that in itself was an unknown thing for the Mistral-raised champion.

As the match neared its close, Frost immediately realized that something was wrong from the way Pyrrha seemed to stagger with shock as Penny raised her swords up in a stance to throw all of them at once. The fact that Pyrrha seemed daunted by 8 mere swords that she should easily be able to manipulate around her was wrong…very wrong.

Hence the shock that came to everyone's faces and voices as Pyrrha seemed to release a visible wave of her Semblance against 8 blades, a couple of which seemed to twirl around Penny slightly before severing her into parts.

"What the hell?!" Frost exclaimed as Penny's body seemed to shear apart, her robotic parts now visible for all to see via her open severing's from whatever the swords were made of. "This can't be good…" Frost whispered to himself as he looked around at the crowd. After a few moments his eyes widened with shock at someone he couldn't see amongst the viewers. "Ruby!"

Frost immediately leapt from his seat as he sprinted down the rows of seats in an attempt to find the young speedster. His pace slowed slightly as he rounded a corner, only to immediately stop short as he spotted Ruby as she saw the screens behind him and fell to her knees in shock, her friends name a whisper from her throat as she began to openly weep for her now lost friend. Frost was about to approach her when he saw Mercury exit the door behind her a moment later, a smirk on his face as he noticed the two of them and the incident on the screens being shown for the entire audience.

"You!" Frost snarled as he started to approach the silver-haired male, only for him to smirk as he walked back through the swinging door, Frost's march immediately halted by a very familiar voice over the speakers.

"This…is not a tragedy." Cinder's voice stated as it carried over the crowds. Frost's fists clenched tightly, the sounds of metal creaking and leather stretching unheard by his own ears as he focused on the voice of the woman on the intercom.

"This is not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, and your children to men who claim to be our guardians but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our academy's headmasters wield more power than most armies and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace and yet what do we have here? One nations attempt at…"

Frost's ears were burning as he felt his blood boil beneath the surface of his skin. His body felt as though it were about to burst into flame, and he could tell via the dull throbs that his Semblance was randomly flaring all over his body as he attempted to keep his emotions under control. He knew what would happen if he let it get out of control, and vowed that he would not put so many innocent people in harm's way if he were to overload his own power. What he didn't notice was the small traces of electricity building around his hands and arms for a few brief seconds before fading back into the flashes of energy along his body as his muscles tensed and coursed with adrenaline.

"…Our kingdoms are at the brink of war yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you, when the first shots are fired…"

"Who do you think you can trust?"

Frost could feel a few drops of blood falling from his unarmored right hand as his nails bit into the skin of his palms, his breathing ragged and his eyes dilated to their smallest as he struggled against the power rushing throughout his body. Just as he was about to calm down enough as well, the sirens and warning of the incoming Grimm attack pushed him over his limit.

"GRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He hollered at the top of his lungs as he swung his armored fist into the wall beside him, causing a large fissure to run through it and a heavy shake to any nearby seats as he flooded a stream of excess energy through the concrete like a lightning rod in a powerful electrical current. His shoulder's heaved and shook as he took deep, heavy breaths after the exertion he had just made.

"I swear to all that is good Cinder…if I see you…I will rip your head clean off of your torso and pulverize it into ash…so help me…" He whispered to himself as the crowds in the stands above began to panic and rush out of the stadium past the two unmoving students in the passage.


	23. Chapter 23

**So here is the next installment of the story, fresh off of the presses of my mind and keyboard. Part of the reason this is out so quickly is partly to offset the nasty hiatus I put everyone through, and partly because with tomorrow being the release of Dark Souls 3...my evenings/time off will be a little unpredictable with the spare time I might be spending doing some co-op gameplay with a friend. Either way I still intend on doing better than that 2 month delay, so no worries there. Otherwise, godspeed to all, and et me know your thoughts in the reviews following the chapter.**

* * *

Frost's arm shook as it remained partially lodged in the concrete of the stadium seats. The sharp cries of the colossal Nevermore atop the Coliseum's barrier were barely able to process in his ears due to the overworked state of his nerves. Despite the crowds of people running past him and Ruby, he could only stand there and allow his frustration to take its course as he often needed to when his emotions flared up. The flow of energy that had arisen in his body due to his adrenaline and Semblance working in tandem had to be bled off, or else directed explosively around him- which in this scenario would harm far too many innocent bystanders.

However, the sharp crash of a large Grimm breaking through a force field has a way of regaining one's focus in stressful situations. Frost shook his head slightly as he slowly removed his armored hand from the wall, just a gust of wind fired past his body as Ruby propelled herself forward just as the large bird leapt at Pyrrha. It was only moments before the creatures beak would have gained purchase on the gladiator that Ruby impaled the beast with one of Penny's blades that she had grabbed as she sped past. It was as Ruby stood her ground single-handedly as Pyrrha's protector that Frost noticed other students still present were pulling out their scrolls and keying in commands. It was with a start of realization that Frost whipped out his scroll, taking a moment to glance at the bracer on his left arm before disengaging the command and putting his scroll away. He had made it through many situations and fights without using a blade before and frankly, he preferred old beat-em up style combat to swordplay any day. Moments later, over a dozen pods from the school's armory impaled the Nevermore's body as they crashed into its flying body, effectively stunning it due to the sheer force of all of the lockers hitting it. Frost took the time to leap down alongside all of the others as they retrieved their weapons from the lockers atop the Grimm's body.

Despite the triumphant poses they all took while Ruby and Pyrrha looked on in surprise, everyone had to adjust themselves suddenly as the Nevermore got over the shock of the numerous impacts and began to pull itself upright. He leapt back along with a few others as Ren, Nora, Sage, Yatsuhashi, and Arslan all used a series of blows to decapitate the Nevermore in a single strike. As Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune all conversed for a few moments, Frost took that time to try and get his thoughts and emotions back under control. The release of energy into a section of the stands, while excessive, had managed to greatly reduce his worked up mental state. However, there was still a few nagging strands of anger and hate boiling in the back of his mind as he thought back to Cinder's speech over the intercom. This had been her intention all along, to use the overworked emotions and turmoil from planned sabotage's in the tournament to draw an even larger mass of Grimm to the city than when Torchwick had used the tunnels beneath Mountain Glenn. Now with the city in a state of panic, the White Fang wasn't likely far behind if they weren't already here.

His thoughts and speculations were brought to a rapid halt however, as the sound of a large pack of Griffon's came from above as they landed on the open ring on the top of the arena. He grinned somewhat sadistically as one of the beasts howled from atop the stadium. "Perfect," Frost said with a slight tilt to his voice as he glared at the beasts, "I could use some target practice right now."

One of the beasts landed atop the locker that Ruby called in a moment later, only to be blown aside by a sudden blast from Professor Port's blunderbuss. A few students were about to protest his request for everyone to leave just as Oobleck interrupted Ruby- being the first to actually start protesting the order. Frost sagged his shoulders slightly as he joined up with the rest of the students in rapidly leaving the spacious area, taking a moment to lag behind the group and watch for a few seconds as Port and Oobleck began to take on the pack of Grimm with a practiced precision.

* * *

"Holy shit that was badass." Frost managed to utter with wide eyes as they bared witness to Ironwood's single-handed defeat of an Alpha Beowolf without even breaking a sweat as they made their way outside to the helipads around the stadium. Ruby was the first to speak as they reached the Atlesian General in a hurry.

"What's going on?!"

"Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang has invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse some…" Ironwood paused for a moment as he looked amongst the crowd, his eyes stopping on Frost for the longest compared to anyone else. "…vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command the skies are out of our control. So I'm-" He interrupted himself as he levelled his pistol and shot a Grimm that was just about to leap amidst the group of unaware students. "-going to take it back."

Jaune spoke up as Ironwood began to scale the ramp into his ship. "What should we do?"

"You have two choices: Defend your kingdom and your school…or save yourselves." The next words he spoke with a much gentler tone than many had heard from the General before. "No one will fault you if you leave. Let's move out!" With that he turned and finished making his way onto the ship as it began to warm up for its departure. Ruby and Frost both stayed a few moments longer than the rest as the other students went off to commandeer an carrier for themselves, both of them watching as Ironwood's ship shrank in the distance.

"I know who he was taking about." Frost stated simply without turning to face Ruby. "And I have a hunch you do too, Ruby."

"Yeah."

Frost clenched his unarmed fist tight as he looked down at it for a moment. "A part of me wanted to board that ship as it left…but I know that right now, I'll likely do something I'll regret if I end up facing him tonight. To be honest, all I really care about is finding Neo and getting her away from all of this, regardless of how much under-" He had to stop himself a moment before accidentally blurting out Cinder's name, "-their control she might be. She might even be on that airship, I don't know. The only thing I can hope for is that Ironwood recognizes her from the descriptions they salvaged from the book and incapacitate her instead of kill her like they probably will with Torchwick." Ruby and Frost turned to face each other with a nod as they went to catch up with the other students.

"Besides, there are hundreds if not thousands of people down there that are frightened, hurt, or worse. And they need our help a lot more than Ironwood does."

* * *

A little while later, everyone was either seated or standing inside the ship as it continued its journey to the courtyard of Beacon Academy. However, everyone's attention with jarringly changed as they were made witness to a sudden explosion from the rear of Ironwood's own ship, the smoking chasses rapidly falling towards the ground as everyone looked on in shock. Ruby was the first to react as she turned and made a run for the back of the ship as she opened the rear door momentarily to leap back towards the arena with a burst of her Semblance. Frost groaned as he got up and started sprinting towards the door a moment later, his legs rapidly glowing brighter as he reached the console for the door.

"Dude, not you too! What the hell are you thinking?!" Sun shouted with exasperation as Frost flashed a look back towards the other briefly.

"…Making sure Ruby doesn't go in alone. Plus I've always wanted to try skydiving when I was younger. No time like the present I guess!" And with that, he took a brief second to ready his stance, then leapt out of the cockpit in a couple of strides, planting both feet for a second as he rocketed off the back of the ship with the added kinetic force he had rapidly built up via his Semblance.

For a few moments, Frost's propulsion had the desired effect of giving him an extra lift for better angling on the descent portion of the trip. As he reached the apex of his leap, he spread his arms and legs wide as he angled himself on a sharp course for one of the unoccupied helipads atop the floating stadium. Moments later, he landed with a solid impact as he tucked into a roll at the last moment, managing to minimize a portion of the landing via quick thinking and spur of the moment adjustments midair.

As he got to his feet and dusted himself off, he looked up slightly and noticed as one of the lockers that had been in the arena flying through the sky towards the lone airship in the distance, Ruby's black and red color scheme barely noticeable in the dark sky. His shoulders slumped as he realized he was now stranded atop the stadium without planning ahead as to how he would get down. There was no way he could manage to ride on of the lockers the same way Ruby did, and so he began to look around frantically in an effort to find another solution to his new problem. His answer was given moments later as another carrier suddenly swung around from another end of the stadium, the back door quickly opening as Professor Port stood at the end of the walkway onto it as it landed nearby.

"God heavens, lad. We told you and the rest of the students to leave not that long ago!" The portly man stated with a small tinge of annoyance present in his voice. "I realize that saying the same thing to Miss Rose would be irrelevant as she has already found a new method of transport off of this flying battlefield, but how exactly did you intend on leaving when you followed after her off of the ship you both foolishly leapt from?"

"Ironwood's ship got ruined from the inside somehow!" Frost shouted back over the whirring of the ships engines. "Ruby left moments later to go up there I guess and deal with whoever took it over! I leapt after her in the hopes I'd make it to her in time and at the very least help her so she's not takin them on alone!"

"She went up to that giant airship to take it on single-handedly?!" Port's eyebrows rose in shock for a brief moment before lowering in sudden thought. "Hmm, then if you intend on helping her, we must get you over there- posthaste!" And as suddenly as he had stated it, he put one arm around Frost's shoulders and ushered him inside the ship as he spoke to Oobleck.

"Marty! Slight change of plans before we return to the school grounds!" He clapped one hand loudly against Frost's shoulder to direct Oobleck's attention towards the boy as he continued. "This young man needs a drop-off over on that large airship in the distance to assist Miss Rose in her efforts to regain control. I believe that her chances will improve immensely if we can arrive with haste, so I believe that it is our best course of action!"

Oobleck looked the two of them over for a moment before turning back to the controls of the ship and turning them in the direction of the large ship in the distance. "For the record, Peter, this plan has many issues with it! Namely the fact that we will be sitting ducks for whoever happens to be controlling that airship!"

"You worry too much, my friend!" Port stated with a hearty chuckle. "This is par for the course for us, and we might as well help the boy do what he feels is right. Isn't that what Huntsmen and Huntresses do after all?"

"While you may be right," Oobleck stated as they continued their approach, dodging Griffons as they got closer to avoid any incident that could result in a fiery crash below, "I will hold back on an 'I told you so' until something does go wrong."

"Fair enough!"

With that discussion out of the way, the three watched in silence as they neared the ship. They all looked on in shock moments later however, as the mountain itself broke apart at its peak as a colossal Grimm Dragon arose from the rubble and began to approach Beacon. Port turned to give Oobleck the stink eye as they eyed each other for a few moments.

"I believe now is an excellent time for that 'I told you so'!" Oobleck stated without blinking as he looked at Port.

"Oh shush, Marty!" Port declared with a huff as they reached the final approach for the airship.

"Less talking, more helping Ruby!" Frost yelled from the back of the cockpit as he stood ready to depart from the ship at a moment's notice.

* * *

"I hope you're prepared for a hot landing!" Oobleck stated from the pilot's seat as they began to hover nearby the larger ship. "It appears Miss Rose is currently outnumbered and outmatched…and she might not be in a position to even be helped much longer!"

"Just let me know when the ship is turned and in position and I'll take it from there. The two of you can head back to Beacon like you planned once I'm gone; I've got it from here!" Frost yelled over the rushing wind as he opened the hangar door in preparation.

"We should be in position, right about…" Oobleck paused as he maneuvered the ship so that Frost could see what was currently going on atop the airship before jumping onto it. What he saw moments before Oobleck gave the order nearly made his heart stop. Neo was currently standing above Ruby as she hung from the side of the airship, her blade extended from the tip of the umbrella as she looked on while Torchwick seemed to be in the middle of a monologue as per usual.

A moment later, everything happened at once. Oobleck yelled out the order to jump just as Ruby reached upwards and engaged the umbrella on Neo's weapon, forcefully pulling her off the ship due to the sudden imbalance from the rushing wind that rapidly pushed upon it. Frost yelled her name briefly as he leapt from the ship keeping his limbs as close to his body as he rocketed down towards her, unaware of anything else due to the sudden tunnel vision as he fell after her into the Griffon-infested skies.

Frost prepared himself for an interesting confrontation as he slowly began to catch up with Neo despite the fact that she was less falling and more being pulled along by the wind. What caught his attention out of the corner of his eye however was a single Griffon that had broken off from the pack and was rapidly approaching Neo from off to the side, it's talons and beak extended as it sought new prey. His left arm began to glow as he slowly pulled it back in preparation...

* * *

Neo, on the other hand, was also currently in a panic. Her mind was telling her to deal with the umbrella and teleport up to Torchwick and finish the job while a smaller portion of her mind continued to fight the effects of the drug now quite lodged in her system. She didn't want to fight Ruby, let alone kill her like Torchwick would want her to do, yet the drug was too far into her system as it fed orders and commands to her brain that she could only futilely plead against while her body acted without her control. From the corner of her eye she suddenly noticed the Griffon that was nearly upon her. She then closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable.

Moments later however, it did not come in the cold embrace of death itself, but a strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist and her umbrella suddenly much less obtrusive to her descent and no Grimm claws or beaks upon her. She chanced her eyes open in case this was some sort of sadistic trick, only for them to snap open in shock as she noticed who it was that had their arm around her. It was Frost, and had it not been for the fact that he had a glowing armored fist still implanted into the side of a Griffon's head as it dissolved, she would have thought she was dreaming. Frost turned to her a moment later with a serious expression as they continued to fall to the city miles below them.

"Once we're safe on the ground for even a moment, we're having a solid talk about what's been going on lately, and then we're going to help take back this god forsaken city."

Neo could only nod in shock as a lone tear fell from one eye without Frost noticing as she silently wept tears of joy inside her own mind.


	24. Chapter 24

They were surrounded. Despite their rapid descent towards the rooftops below, the horde of Griffins refused to back off from their new set of meal tickets. They didn't, however, expect to meet such a heavy resistance considering how large their horde was in their assault. Two human beings should have been easy pickings for a quick bite before moving on to the buffet further below.

Unfortunately for them, Frost and Neo weren't intent on giving up anytime soon.

Despite the lack of solid ground beneath them, the two quickly reverted into old tricks as Neo warped them mere moments before a Griffin could snap it's jaws on them while Frost unleashed bursts of energy from his bare hand while the ice-coated gauntlet acted as either a reinforced guard or a sharp fist depending on the situation. Before the two of them knew it, they were roughly 50 feet above the nearest rooftop as Frost gave a quick nod to Neo, who scrunched her eyes tight in focus s she prepared one last teleport.

A moment later, over a dozen Griffin's plowed into the building's roof, disappearing in clouds of smoke as the two of them appeared safely on another building nearby. Their moment of victory was short lived however, as the Griffin's further back were able to slow their approach soon enough to not become a splatter on the building and readjusted their focus to the pair now on solid ground. The lead Griffin of the remainder of them opened its beak wide as it neared the two of them, only for its body to be halted inches away from them as Neo's umbrella reengaged inside of its open mouth, thus locking its jaw open. Neo turned to Frost and gave him a sly wink and a smirk as he rolled his eyes wit a smile of his own.

"OK, fine. That thing is better than I thought." He said as he reared one arm back as it began to glow before forcing another blast of energy down the creatures exposed maw, its body disintegrating a moment later with a dull thump. "But the number of times that something will try to bite you that isn't Grimm is kind of low, just so you know."

He would have said more, were it not for the shriek of the remaining Griffin's as they attacked all at once. The two silently went back to dodging blows from all around, whether they be from cleverly timed teleports that caused two Griffins to impale each other, or a well-placed umbrella shield or ice block that halted the creature's progress before the other of the pair landed a fatal strike on an open area in its moment of vulnerability. After a long bout against a couple dozen remaining Griffins, the two were finally the only figures left atop the building as they both panted from the recent exertion.

Amidst the struggle, the two of them had noticed when a sudden explosion rocked the airship they had both recently departed. Now they both stood silently as they watched it leave a smokey trail behind as it crashed into the ground in another end of the city. Hopefully no one had been nearby when it landed, thus avoiding harm from the large mass of debris and fire. After a few moments of silence, as the two manage to finish catching their breath, Frost immediately turns to Neo as he tightly wraps both arms around as he lifts her into a tight hug, a few tears managing to escape from his tightly shut eyes as his breath shudders for a moment. Neo's eyes widen in shock for a moment before she closes them with a soft smile as she leans into the hug silently. A few long moments later, Frost sets Neo back on the ground as he lets go of her before opening his eyes with a warm smile on his face.

"I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to rescue you at all with the way things had been going. For a while I was starting to wonder whether or not I'd ever even catch wind of you in the months that followed my leaving the docks after escaping Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. I'm just glad I was wrong." Neo moved to get his attention, but Frost stopped her with a lift of his hand as he continued. "But that doesn't excuse what I put you through. I left you alone with the 3 of them as well as the White Fang- which if what I've heard from Blake is true, I'm thankful they didn't do anything since you were with Cinder at the very least. But either way, I am sorry. So much, especially since you've had to deal with this…parasite that Torchwick managed to drug you with. But I think I might have a solution. I have no idea if it will even work, but I want to try. I need to make amends for this to finally clear my conscience. Will you trust me?"

Neo looked up into Frost's imploring gaze with an expression of shock. After all of this time, after everything he had known her to be a part of, he still wanted to apologize, and to help? Then again, what he thought he knew wasn't the entire truth, so as far as he was concerned Neo wasn't to blame for any of this. Hopefully he wouldn't hate her after he learned the whole truth of things. After a moment of deliberation, she returned her lien of sight to Frost, and nodded silently as he moved both of his hands to the sides of her head after unbuckling the bracer from his one arm as he set it off to the side of them.

"I hope this doesn't hurt at all, but like I said, even I don't know if it will work. I'm not even sure what will happen. Let me know if it becomes too much, and I'll stop immediately. Are you ready?"

Despite her confusion at where he had placed his hands as well as the way he had worded those last few sentences, Neo nodded her head as she prepared for what was to happen next. What she wasn't expecting, was for a sudden probing feeling to enter her mind as Frost's hands began to glow, and followed by a sharp ringing in her eyes as her head started to sting sharply.

A moment later, her vision flashed white before fading into darkness.

* * *

Neo winced as she opened her eyes after what felt like a few moments, though as she was doing so she immediately noticed that something was off about the situation at present. For one, Frost was suddenly gone, and aside from a tile-like surface beneath her, there was nothing but darkness in any given direction save for the ground she currently stood on. She immediately tried calling out into the darkness, as her voice carried over the darkened landscape she knew she was somehow experiencing something inside her own mind due to whatever it was that Frost was trying to do.

" _You know…this is really a boring place you've got yourself here, now that I think about it._ " A distorted version of Neo's own voice came from directly behind her as she whipped to face…herself. The only difference is that this version didn't have white, pink, or brown eyes. They were instead both a shade of blood-red as the duplicate of her smirked sadistically. " _I mean, for someone capable of crafting illusions, you'd think that you'd be able to spruce up the place a little bit better than this. It's just so…plain._ "

"Considering that this is MY mind, I think I'm entitled to do what I want with it." Neo snapped back as she clenched her fists at her side at this pretender of herself. "Now who are you and what are you doing inside of my head?"

" _And here I thought that your white-haired boy toy was the dumb one. Guess I was wrong._ "

"Don't you DARE talk about Frost that way, you bitch! You have no right posing as me and insulting the people close to me as well! Now explain, but I force you out!"

" _That's cute that you think you can kick me out of my own home, really it is._ "

"What are you going on about?"

" _Wow, I really do have to explain it then. Then let's try something a little simpler._ " With that the double did a quick spin, settling in one of Neo's more passive stances as her eye colours changed to Neo's usual pink and brown heterochromia. " _I'm you. You're me. We just had a bit of help personifying a second side of you is all. Think about it._ "

Neo stared incredulously at the double as it leaned against an upturned umbrella it had conjured in its spin before her eyes widened in shock. "No…"

The double smiled evilly as her eyes shifted back to red before she spoke. " _And now she's figured it out this time! Let's tell her what she's won!_ " With that, the doppelganger lunged forward as the blade extended from the tip of the umbrella, impaling Neo's abdomen as it got up close and grabbed a fistful of her hair with a sharp tug while leaving the blade embedded inside of her.

"But…I thought…" Neo choked out as she gasped for breath, finding that her lungs were suddenly starved for breath as she struggled against the weapon inside of her, her hands slipping as the doppelganger held fast.

" _What? That even though you were resisting the pulls each time you were tempted that you wouldn't give in? That your refusal to kill would somehow stop things from progressing further? You've been dosed for months now! Even if each of those guards were simply knocked out, or those girls were able to get away due to your weakness, I will still grow stronger over time! I'm as much a part of you as the breath you would normally be breathing right now…though it seems that even that is starting to fail you as well._ "

With a sudden tug, the double pulled the weapon out of Neo's abdomen, but instead of there being blood; instead a cloudy black substance seemed to escape from the wound and travel towards the duplicate, seemingly merging into her form the more it flowed out. Neo's eyes widened in fear as she struggled to stay upright, eventually falling to her knees the more the substance flowed out of her, her vision beginning to fade as well as time seemed to slow as well. The shadowy version of her strutted forward, a pleased look on its face as it twirled its umbrella once before it faded into mist that merged into the clone as well.

" _Unfortunately, you won't be getting your chance to apologize to your precious_ Frost _, since I plan on using your innocent face to make him vulnerable and then finish the job that we should have started on ages ago. All he does is make you weak! You have so much power at your fingertips, and soon I'll be able to use it for myself for a whole new brand of chaos!_ _Mother will be so proud of what I'll do once I've gotten control!_ "

As more shadows seemed to flow into the alternate of herself, Neo's eyes widened as its skin paled into a sickly white, black tendrils appearing out of nowhere along its face as a set of fangs seemed to appear slightly from the corners of its mouth as it cackled loudly. As the smoke began to settle, Neo collapsed onto her side as her chest began to burn, her body beginning to fade into the darkness as well while tears fell unheeded down her face. The dark version turned to her as its cackling subsided, its pace slow and methodical as Neo's chest heaved as she struggled to maintain consciousness. She knew that for as long as she could keep her eyes open, she still had a chance, as fleeting as it may be.

" _Aww…is the little princess still determined to fight for dominance? Well, as cute as that is…it's too late. I've gotten what I needed to finish the process, and now I can move on to the final peace: removing the final spark of your so called hope, and replacing it with everything that I love most. Pure. Seething. Hatred._ "

As it came within arm's reach, Neo's eyes began to slide shut as the last of her strength faded from her body, the darkness now beginning to reach over her like a full body blanket while the twisted version of herself licked her lips with a sharp smack of them. Neo struggled to move anything- an arm, her head, even her eyes, yet nothing seemed to work anymore as her world became darkness.

* * *

Warmth.

That was an unexpected feeling for Neo to suddenly be feeling. Was she dead? Did something not go right even inside her own mind that was causing this? Or had she just been having a bad nightmare and had finally woken up?

A moment later, her ears felt as though they were on fire as a sharp wailing issued from somewhere in front of her. As feeling began to return to the rest of her, Neo noticed that she was still lying on her side, albeit with much more air in her lungs, and no gaping hole in her abdomen that had been there mere moments before. As Neo hesitantly opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the twisted version of her writhing about on the floor a small distance away. As she turned her head, now able to move freely once more, she also noticed that while she was still mostly surrounded by a dark canvas on all sides, cracks of white light seemed to be appearing more and more as Neo felt her body strengthening the more light entered the small space.

" _What's…happening…to me…"_ Neo heard a faint voice whisper from the direction of the twisted version of herself, though this time the voice sounded less like herself and more like a frightened child. " _Mother…please…help me..."_ Neo watched in silence as the figure became more smoke like, its body becoming more like a wraith as it slowly crawled towards the darkness even as it faded to the light around them. " _I've done…everything as you wanted…so why…have you forsaken me?..._ "

Neo would have reached out to the figure as its body faded into the remaining darkness, but mere moments later everything was bathed in white light as Neo felt a rush of wind against her body. Suddenly, she didn't seem so scared of telling the truth anymore.

* * *

"Neo…please…" Frost cried as he held Neo's limp body against his while he lay on his knees in defeat. "Don't do this to me. You don't deserve any of this after all that you've been through. Please…come back…"

At first everything had been going about how he had expected. The wince of discomfort on Neo's face he anticipated happening. What he was trying to do was a somewhat invasive process, but also never tried before given the lack of experience he had in the past. Attempting to use his Semblance through another person was tricky enough, but doing it to flush out the presence of the drug all at once would absolutely be a painful process given how heavily it was fed into her system at this point. What he hadn't expected however, was for her to suddenly start convulsing after she started to relax in his grip. He had panicked and forced more of his Semblance into her, hoping it would alleviate the sudden reaction, and it did…only for her heart to stop beating moments later. He had switched to CPR shortly thereafter, but after having no success after a couple of minutes, he had pulled her into a tight hug, hoping for a miracle at this point.

His eyes widened in shock a few moments later as he felt as stirring in his arms and a gentle beating around the left of Neo's chest. He laughed amidst his tears as he hugged her body tight before a groan and a struggle of movement caused him to let go as she struggled away to rest on her own knees.

"What…happened?" Neo spoke softly without thinking as Frost's arms froze in the middle of reaching out to her and his eyes widened in shock. Neo's own eyes widened a moment later in shock as she looked up to Frost in fear as she put one hand over her mouth as she suddenly started to backpedal away from him, albeit sloppily as her legs didn't seem to want to hold her up at present.

"Neo…your voice…I don't…how?" Frost could barely string together words as he struggled to find something to say at this new revelation. Meanwhile, Neo continued to move away from him as she neared the edge of the rooftop. Before she could reach the end to roll off and teleport away out of fear, Frost lunged forward as he grabbed onto one of her arms before she could get further. His eyes were suddenly cold and calculating as he seemed to stare deep into her mind in an attempt to figure out what was going on. "Neo…there's no way what I did just gave you your voice back…what's going on?"

"Look, Frost, I can explain everything." Neo stated now that her cover was blown. "But you need to promise not to overreact, or do anything hasty, okay?"

"I'm already confused as hell right now, so why don't you just start explaining and I'll try to wrap my head around it as we go, alright?"

"Fine." Neo said as she sighed and took a deep breath before beginning her explanation. "A couple weeks after Cinder came and told me about you having 'deserted' the rest of us, I noticed that my throat didn't seem to have that same scratching feeling that it did following the accident. After testing it a bit whenever I was alone, I found out that my throat had been healed. Not long after that, Cinder approached me alone asking if anything had changed recently. It turns out that the drug had been actually used as a way to accelerate healing in human beings using Grimm essence. She went on to explain that it was through that I was able to fight more offensively than in the past, and that it would eventually would make me into something greater. I didn't know what she was referring to at the time, but I think I figured it out a few minutes ago during…whatever the hell that was. It's a trans-formative drug. I saw another me inside of my head that tried to take over and looked like some disgusting hybrid of human and Grimm as it changed the weaker I got. But then in suddenly started getting lighter and it eventually faded away. What did you do?"

"…To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself." Frost admitted with a quick shake of his head after returning his jaw from its dropped position. "All I know is I attempted to use my Semblance to flush the drug from your system like it naturally did to mine. Your heart stopped somewhere along the way though, and I thought I had lost you again. But you mentioned something about a duplicate of yourself? I had to deal with something like that…twice I think? But it never got to be anything as ugly as what you were describing." Frost paused for a moment before he returned his attention to Neo with another question. "How much do you remember from when you were under her control?"

Neo turned her head away with an ashamed look on her face briefly before turning back to Frost. "You really need to trust me on this, okay?" Frost got a confused look on his face before nodding slowly as she continued. "I don't know what you read in that book, but a part of that was false information that someone gave Torchwick somewhere. The drug was never able to influence people, everything I did I did willingly. I'm sorry."

"But…what about before I left? Why did you agree so much with helping him then in that case?"

"They kept threatening that they would kill you if I didn't aid with my illusions more, so I agreed to assist more on the condition that they wouldn't hurt you at all. As for the past couple of months? I've been making sure Cinder thinks I'm on her side until I got the chance to give them the slip and find you myself. Unfortunately they tasked me with breaking out Torchwick, so I would have to pretend I obeyed him until Cinder said otherwise. I'm sorry for keeping you out of the loop so much, but I couldn't contact you without blowing my cover and risking them killing one or both of us on the spot after that point."

"…"

"Frost? Please, I didn't mean for all of this to happen. I never meant for so many people to get hurt. If I had known it would come this far, I would have done something sooner. Please forgive me, I never meant it. Honest!"

Frost slowly got up and walked past Neo to stand close to the edge of the rooftop. A few moments later, Frost's shoulders started shuddering. However, as Neo stumbled to her feet, using her umbrella as a balance, she realized that it was because he was laughing rather than crying.

"I…I don't understand. What's so funny?"

Frost reared his head back and laughed heartily for a few moments before reaching one hand up to wipe a tear from his eye as he sighed after taking a few deep breaths. "Don't you see? We've both been acting like a pair of idiots! I avoided doing anything for the same reason you were avoiding doing anything! Neither of us wanted to risk the other, but both of us would have worked to stop all of this had we known what would transpire. It's fucking hilarious!" He gazed out over the ruins of the city as his smile faded into a more serious expression. "Really stupid as well though. So from now on, I say we always keep each other appraised of what's going on. Deal?"

Neo could only nod her head with a teary smile as she reached past his outstretched hand to give him a tight hug in return. "Deal."

"Aww, how sweet. The two runaways finally got to reconcile their differences. Kind of makes me sick at the same time though, what about you Em?"

The pair turned as they heard Mercury's voice in the distance, finally spotting him as well as Emerald a few feet back on a separate rooftop. Neo moved to raise her umbrella, though she was stopped as Frost put a hand on top of hers as he stood in front of her as a shield with both arms out. She looked at him with a confused look on her face as she followed his steel gaze to Mercury.

"What do you want, Mercury." Frost asked with an empty voice as he attempted to stare the grey-haired boy down from a distance.

"Following orders. Cinder wanted us to find out at some point if her hunch about ice cream girl here going rogue and dodging questions, and if she was to remove the problem. And that was about all of the proof we needed. So move aside pal, and we won't have to beat the tar out of you as well…for today at least."

"She's not going anywhere. As a matter of fact, I suggest you back off before you regret ever working for that bitch in the first place. This is your only warning."

"Then in that case, I hope you like tasting concrete."

"Bring it on, airhead."

* * *

 **Well, I did promise that I wouldn't make the wait quite as long as last time, didn't I. Still longer than I would have preferred, but at least it wasn't 2 months again. Either way, some big news for this one, so keep yourself glued to your seat a little while longer.**

 **First and foremost, this ride has been fantastic. There are at this point only 2-3 chapters remaining for me to do before the story is at its finale, however I have been working out ideas for a sequel as well for the past few weeks. Nothing concrete at this point, but it's a start.**

 **I hope everyone has enjoyed the story up to this point, and I hope you all enjoy reading the rest as much as I will writing it out. Remember to post your reviews and/or thoughts after this, as it is both a blessing to hear people's thoughts on my progress, as well as what I could stand to work on as well for future endeavors.**

 **Thanks again to those of you that have stuck around up to this point, and I hope you all are having a good one!**


	25. Chapter 25

Silence.

Frost and Mercury stared each other down from their separate rooftops, while Emerald and Neo both watched with varying levels of concern. Neo's concern lay in the worry of Frost either getting hurt or losing his composure in the heat of the conflict. Emerald's concern lay somewhere other than for Mercury, however; ever since seeing the carnage that the Grimm and White Fang were exacting on the city of Vale, as per Cinder's plan, she had been having second thoughts about her involvement with Cinder. Of course, thanks to her, Emerald had others that could look out for her rather than her previous life on the streets using her Semblance to pilfer food and goods from unsuspecting citizens. But she never really hated them, she just was jealous of the lives they all got to lead with people around them to keep them safe.

Her thoughts were cut short however, as with a roar of frustration Frost leapt from his own rooftop towards hers and Mercury's to begin the fight that would determine their future. Cinder HAD given them express orders to kill the two of them before the night was over to avoid any loose ends being left to lie about since she would be otherwise occupied. But could she really take another person's life by herself? Yes, she had helped get Amber, the Fall Maiden, into a position that her power could be siphoned away, but Emerald had always thought that it would just leave her weary and weak, not nearly kill her like what had almost happened.

Meanwhile, amidst Emerald once again being lost in thought, Frost and Mercury began to trade blows. One would think that without his sword and bracer that Frost would be at a disadvantage, but only he and Neo were truly aware of just how much time they had spent growing up training on the streets near the orphanage they had grown up in. Frost's strength lay in being able to amplify his attacks using his Semblance, mixed with some self-taught martial arts that he made sure to practice every once in a while to keep himself familiar. Many times he had practiced against some of the other students that fought in such a way, most of those being against Yang given her own fighting style; it had even served as a way for him to bridge the gap with her, even after his breakdown in the courtyard many months ago where he had finally opened up the rest of his barriers to Team RWBY.

It was because of this that he and Mercury were locked in such a close struggle at present. For each swift kick that Mercury delivered, Frost returned just as strong a punch whenever he didn't just dodge out of the way via a quick somersault or stretch of his body to avoid the blow. After all, while he could lessen the force of the blows using his Semblance, he only had so much energy to work with and thus had to conserve it for the most opportune times.

As time wore on with the two continuing to move about the rooftop in an elegant dance of limbs and bursts of energy, it was apparent that Frost was getting the upper hand as he occasionally peppered quick, sharp strikes to Mercury's lower legs every time an opening presented itself. The sooner he could disable the inner workings of the machinery to prevent the projectiles that Mercury would use once in a while, the sooner he could wrap things up and get himself and Neo to safety where the rest of the students and faculty would be waiting.

However his energy reserves were running dangerously low, and he knew that with the way things were going, Mercury would eventually gain the upper hand and quite possibly manage to complete what he had said they were there for. The strange part was how Emerald had not involved herself in the fight or gone to attack Neo while he was distracted; rather, she seemed to be staring into space while keeping her eyes focused on the fight going on in front of her. Neo, meanwhile, was still recovering slightly from the mental trauma she had recently gone through and thus would likely need a little bit more time before she could either get involved or teleport the two of them out of here.

It was with that thought in mind that Frost then quickly delivered a swift front kick to Mercury's chest, knocking him off balance. Using the opening to his advantage he then pressed the attack with a strong roundhouse to Mercury's exposed side, further staggering the silver-haired male. Finally, he then used the twisting momentum he had built up to end with a powerful side kick to Mercury's chest, launching him across the rooftop to land sprawled out near Emerald, whose eyes had widened at the sudden turn of events as her "partner" gave her a disgusted look as he quickly tried to get to his feet.

The two of them both looked on in shock as they turned to see Frost standing in his final spot after kicking Mercury away, his arms both beginning to glow brightly as sparks began to crawl along the length of his arms. Neo, however, had a look of fright written on her face as she began to realize what Frost was attempting to do and reached out as she began to yell in protest.

"Frost, no! There has to be a better way!"

Frost turned slightly as he gave Neo and sad smile before speaking. "You know as well as I do that I have to end this quickly if we want to get out of here before that Dragon does whatever they have planned for it. We have to get to the helipads near the school as soon as possible to help everyone evacuate before the town is overrun. Once I give you the signal, teleport us out of here and don't look back. Got it?" Frost waited patiently as Neo reluctantly nodded her head after a moment of thought, a couple tears managing to escape her eyes before Frost began to turn back to his fight with Mercury.

Before he could speak however, his eyes widened in shock before he grunted in pain as Mercury landed a powerful kick to his chin before spinning and launching Frost back to the rooftop with Neo on it before patting some dirt off of his legs as Frost landed next to Neo with a loud yelp of pain. Sparks could still be seen crawling up and down his arms, even though the glow from before had dimmed somewhat. Mercury then leapt from his own roof to press his now open advantage as he brought one leg up to deliver a crushing axe kick to Neo's head as she sat kneeling next to Frost's limp body.

His attack never met its mark however, as his leg stopped against Emerald's scythes that lay crossed against one another as she struggled against the force of his attack. "What the hell are you doing?!" He shouted with a mix of confusion and anger as the green-haired woman in front of him pushed him away with a quick flick of her weapons. "We're supposed to kill them! Not let them beat us and get away! What's the big idea?!"

Emerald's look could have halted grown men in their tracks as she stared Mercury down from in front of Frost and Neo. "The idea is that I'm down playing Cinder's game! I thought that when she had taken me in that I would have a home, maybe even a place I could feel safe for once! Not end up siding with murderers and criminals and attempt to destroy an entire city just to allow some new world order to step in!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Mercury shouted as he opened both arms wide with an exasperated look on his face. "We were helping Cinder kill a goddamn Maiden, and you thought that this would be all sunshine and daisies?!" The next part was more to himself, though it was still out loud. "What the hell did that woman even see in you, anyways?"

"All any of us have ever been to her are pawns, Mercury!" Emerald snapped back as Frost groaned and began to sit up with Neo's help behind her. "I was some street rat thief with the ability to mess with a person's perception, the ability I have likely the only reason she remotely considered helping me! You were the son of an assassin who had killed his own father, how could she pass up someone so ruthless for her cause? The White Fang and Torchwick were all about gaining forces to speed up her timetable of plans!" Emerald paused for a moment before gesturing behind herself at the two lying further back on the rooftop. "And these two were just like us at first! No home, no family, and no one to turn to for help if they needed it! And they got roped into this mess just as well as we did. The only difference is that they had the courage to try and do something about all of this, even if they were constantly hated by anything Cinder managed to mastermind!" Emerald then clenched both hands tighter around the grips of her weapons as she continued her rant. "If I had realized just how far gone this whole plan was, I could have helped them expose all of this so much sooner, but instead I hid behind my illusions like I always do! Well, not anymore! Those two are leaving to help the people escape this mess, while I knock some sense into that thick head of yours before I leave as well! Now go!" The last line she directed at Frost and Neo before converting her scythes to their pistol forms and began to open fire on Mercury's space of the rooftop, forcing him to leap back to the previous rooftop and safety as Neo nodded solemnly before wrapping both arms around Frost's torso and teleporting them away, but not before Frost slowly reached an arm out with a look of confusion as thought trying to stay longer and understand more before the two disappeared in a flash of light.

"You IDIOT!" Mercury yelled as he leapt from the other rooftop high into the air before crashing down on Emerald's form with a devastating corkscrew, knocking her back as her back slammed into the edging of the roof with a cry of pain. "We were given one job! Get rid of the loose ends so that no one would know what who was behind everything! And you managed to mess that up, big time!" As he approached Emerald's struggling form as she attempted to reach for her weapons that lay just out of arms reach, Mercury's greaves began to whir as he prepared a barrage of projectiles to fire on Emerald from close range. "How do your precious morals feel now, right before I tie up the other loose end for you?"

Emerald stopped struggling as she suddenly lay calmly in front of Mercury a smile etched across her face. "I don't know where my morals are right now, to be honest. But I think for the first time in a while, I actually feel like I've done something right for once. Maybe I'll actually get a second chance somewhere down the road too, but I doubt it."

"Yeah, I kinda doubt it too, considering you're going to be dead meat for the Grimm to feed on." Mercury said with an evil look as he raised one leg up to point directly at Emerald's face. "Now die, you traitor."

"That's what you'd like, wouldn't you?"

Mercury's eyes widened in shock as the voice came from behind him to his right, rather than from in front of him like it had a moment ago. Before his eyes, the illusion of Emerald and the indentation on the edging of the rooftop reformed into a normal roof even as he could hear the sounds of twin barrels loading with bullets behind his head. His expression twisted into a look of pure rage and frustration as he spat at the concrete next to him. "Fuck you, bitch."

"Not on your life, Mercury." Emerald snarled out before swinging both weapons swiftly at the back of his head, cleanly knocking him out before she gave his body and brief glimpse as she stretched forwards to look over the rooftops edge. She smiled sadistically as she reached back and lifted Mercury's body with a groan before lying his body half off the edge before pushing it off with one foot, waiting for a few moments before hearing a satisfying combination of a thud and a splash before another bang followed those sounds moments later. "Always did tell you that you were trash though, guess I just needed to find the right dumpster to put you in."

* * *

Elsewhere, Frost and Neo reappeared on one edge of the helipad that the other students and faculty were waiting at. A few students jerked with surprise at the sudden arrival of more evacuees, a few even giving the pair an odd look or two given the state of Frost before going back to whatever they had been doing previously. Frost groaned slightly before forcing his body into a sitting position while Neo looked on with worry as he adjusted into his new position with a small smirk.

"For someone that I always liked to jokingly call a snake, Emerald sure managed to surprise us, huh Neo?" Frost shuddered slightly as a few sparks crawled up his arms again. "Maybe I need to rethink my opinion of that girl somewhere down the road, what do you think?"

"I think that we need to find you some medical attention ASAP before you go into shock or something worse after that fight." Neo said with a stern glance even as Frost began to open his mouth in reply. "If you make even one comment about a pun involving things being shocking or something along those lines, so help me I will smack you unconscious." Frost closed his mouth in response, though the smirk remained. That is, until a wince of pain crossed his face as his arms began to start glowing brightly again, the sparks beginning to become more frequent as they glowed brighter.

A crackling noise could be heard by those nearby as the energy built up further, eyes widening in shock as students and faculty alike turned to see the storm of energy beginning to form around Frost and Neo. Someone yelled to get to a safe distance even as Sun leapt forward to pull Neo away from him, despite her protests.

"No, stop!" She screamed as she attempted to wrestle out of Sun's grasp even though she could have just teleported away with ease. Fear and shock tend to have a way with interfering with the minds rational thought however, and so she continued to struggle. "Let me go! He needs help!"

"You can't help him right now," Sun yelled over the building crackle of energy, even as Frost's body began to writhe in pain as he screamed in agony due to the coursing electricity coming from his body. "His Semblance is overloading, and you'll just get yourself hurt trying to reach him!"

"You don't understand!" Neo cried in protest as tears escaped her eyes freely. "I'm the only one that CAN reach him! I can teleport to him and then get him somewhere that won't hurt anybody in the blast! You have to let me go!"

"Just so you can get yourself killed trying to do something foolish?! I already let people I know do that today; I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because I couldn't stop them!" Sun shouted in defiance as he held tightly to Neo as she pounded against his arms amidst his strong grip.

"Sun. Let her go."

Multiple sets of eyes turned to face the voice of the person that had spoken, all of them widening in shock due to varying reasons. For most, it was the fact that Yang had woken up and was speaking, albeit with a cracked and broken voice. For Neo however, it was the existence of the bandages wrapped around the stump on Yang's right side where her arm used to be.

"Yang…" Blake spoke carefully even though her teammates attention lay elsewhere.

"Are you sure?" Sun asked carefully even as he made sure to still hold Neo tightly.

"Positive. Just let her do her thing."

With a gentle nod, Sun let go of Neo as he set her down carefully, even as she continued to gaze at Yang's broken body without moving. Her breath shuddered for a moment before she nodded her head slightly with a small smile even as the tears continued to fall down her face.

"Thank you. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for what happened. I had no say in anything."

Yang smirked slightly with a hiss of pain as she gestured slightly towards the building energy around Frost's spasming body. "Just make sure he doesn't blow up half of the city. Then you can apologize for real once everything has settled."

Neo nodded before turning to stand up straight before walking slowly towards Frost's body. "I promise."

As Neo approached the whirling mass of energy, she timed her teleports to avoid the bolts of electricity as she got closer and closer to her friend. A few times and stray bolt managed to catch her on her approach, but she refused to let them stop her as she winced from the pain and continued onwards. This was her chance to save everyone else and Frost after everything that had happened, and she intended on starting to set the record straight from this point on. Just as she reached Frost, his head slowly turned to her as he gazed at her from his one open eye at present as the other was squinting tightly in pain.

"Neo…get…out of here…" He croaked out as he fought and failed to tell his body to move and push her away. "It's…too…dangerous…here…"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight again, mister. Not after everything we've had to go through in the last few months. Now shut up and take my hand."

Neo smiled as she reached out and gently wrapped both hands around Frost's closest one right before they disappeared in a flash of white light once again.

* * *

The two reappeared in an abandoned street in another part of the city just as a powerful bolt was released from Frost's body, launching Neo into a nearby lamppost and knocking her unconscious on impact. Frost's eyes widened in shock as he began to struggle to his knees, his body protesting every step of the way as he re positioned himself as he reached both arms up towards the sky just as a large pack of Griffins were passing overhead and noticed the commotion. As they turned to dive at the two of them, however, all of the pent up energy in Frost's body released itself as a giant lance of lightning that vaporized the entire pack once it passed over them before dissipating far above them in the dark sky even as a wave of light burst forth from the top of Beacon Tower.

With a groan of pain, Frost's body slumped forwards on his chest, as he struggled to crawl over to where Neo's unconscious body lay sprawled out. Even as his vision faded into black, he could faintly hear a gruff male voice call out as everything faded away.

* * *

 **So, first things first. I realize that some of the events of this chapter may not be something that people agree with. However, I do have my reasons for having things play out the way I did.**

 **The biggest thing is this- Emerald. When I saw the finale of V3 a number of months ago, I saw that look of hesitation on her face. I know that it could be attributed to just about anything, but for the purposes of this story, it was regret/remorse/uncertainty. When Cinder first found her she was just trying to stay alive and fed, however she then got roped into working with murderers, criminals, and con-men all for the purposes of destroying everything to rebuild it. I can't see how anyone with any sort of human side could want anything to do with this. Fear however is a very powerful motivator, and before Frost no one had stood up to Cinder in such a fashion as to outright leave. Though her reluctance can possibly even be traced back to the flashback episode of V3 where we see Cinder's recruitment drive for her forces. The way she snapped at Emerald when she spoke out against recruiting Mercury could have fractured the impression she might have had as Cinder being her rescuer in some fashion. Plus he step back when she was presenting the false image to Amber. If she was completely confident in their actions, why would she seem to be backing away from her, thus ruining the illusion by making dust accidentally appear from nowhere. In my mind, Emerald has never been fully on board, and this was her chance to jump ship before the rocking boat tipped over entirely.**

 **On another note, all that remains at this point is the epilogue. I won't give an exact estimate as to when it will be out, but it will not likely be anything overly long. Mostly some talking, and maybe one or two smaller things. But that's it.**

 **Hope you all have enjoyed so far, and thanks again for reading along.**


	26. Chapter 26

Pain.

That was the only word that could accurately describe the feeling passing through Frost's entire body as he lay on what felt like a soft surface. For the time being he refused to open his eyes as though keeping them closed would eventually make the pain subside from his extremities- primarily his arms. It felt like he had been trying to lift weights far outside his regular capacity considering the sore feeling he felt tingling every once in a while.

As he slowly opened his eyes, he winced slightly at the bright fluorescent lights that lined the ceiling of the room he was currently in. Upon closer inspection he noticed that he seemed to be laying on a hospital bed, while Neo rested a few feet away on a separate bed in the same room. What was odd, however, was the fact that in a seat situated in the corner of the room sat an older looking man with grizzled black hair and a beard who was holding a flask of some sort in one hand while having his head slumped over the back of the chair itself as if he were asleep.

Frost raised an eyebrow at the odd visitor before slowly, and painfully, struggling to his feet as he climbed out of his bed and went over to examine the things that were currently laying on a nearby desk. For some reason, an odd set of metal bracers and greaves lay on the large wooden surface. Though the fact they were there was odd in itself, Frost assumed they were intended for him as he quietly put them on, though he did wince a few times as he had to contort his body slightly to get the pieces properly in place. The bracers felt heavier than he had expected, though he could take the time to figure that out when he was in a more isolated area as he slowly approached the door to the room that currently was closed. He was halted moments before opening the door to the sounds of a throat clearly rather sharply behind him. When he turned around to the source of the sound, his eyes widened when he realized that the dark-haired man was awake, and from the look on his face had likely been faking being asleep or was just a light sleeper in general.

"Where do you think you're going, kid?" The older man asked with a gruff voice as he staggered to his feet from his chair before slowly striding towards Frost.

Frost frowned with a sour look on his face as he started to turn back towards the door, his voice slightly quieter than usual so as to avoid waking Neo during the conversation that he intended to end quickly. "Look, I don't who you are or what you're doing here, but I'm leaving. Don't try and stop me."

"Think I'm gonna have to say no to that one, considering that I'm under orders to keep an eye on you until you and your friend have been brought up to speed." The older man said as he crossed his arms in front of him.

It was at that moment that Frost caught sight of something gleaming from beside the chair the man had been sitting at. Upon closer inspection, at seemed to be a rather large sword that had appeared to have been supposedly concealed, though it was a rather haphazard job at best. Frost's look expression darkened as he brought his arms up into a ready stance, though he winced slightly at the protest his limbs gave him at the sudden movement. The older man seemed to notice this and chuckled slightly as he looked in the direction that Frost had been looking before shrugging slightly.

"Hold your horses, kid. I'm not here to fight or anything like that. The two of you are perfectly safe here for the time being." His expression became more serious as he continued. "That doesn't mean I can waste time however, so take off those stupid things and climb back onto that bed where you can rest some more before doing anything stupid."

"Why should I listen to someone I just met given what's happened so far today?" Frost said with a hint of venom in his voice even as the old man chuckled and shook his head a few times.

"For starters, I'm a…friend of Ozpin, and happen to be the uncle of a couple of girls you may have met while you were holing up at Beacon. Now sit down and listen for a minute before you decide to leap out a window or something to get out of here."

Frost's expression turned to one of surprise after the man spoke, his arms lowering slightly as he tried to puzzle out what he'd just heard. To begin with, this man knew Ozpin, and somehow knew about his tendency to get into or out of situations by leaping from taller places. And he mentioned something about being an uncle to a couple of girls he had met while at Beacon. That part was…oddly unspecific to say the least. Frost decided to poke at that fact first.

"When you say a couple of girls I met at Beacon…could you be a bit more specific? I kind of know a handful and a really don't know too much about any of them save a few."

The black-haired man grinned somewhat as he gave a sideways glance to Frost before returning to his seat in the corner of the room. "I'll give you a hint. One's an overly energetic girl that loves scythes and cookies; the other is a loose cannon with eyes like fire. That help at all?"

Frost gave the man a confused look for a moment before piecing the details together. The second clue was kind of odd, but the first one was fairly obvious, which meant that-

"You're their Uncle Qrow?!" Frost blurted out before giving a worried look towards Neo's bed before heaving a quiet sigh of relief at no signs of the girl having been disturbed by his outburst. "Yang and Ruby's uncle?"

"Well technically I'm only Yang's uncle by blood considering her mom is my sister, but Taiyang and Summer wouldn't allow me to say no to Ruby calling me the same thing considering how often I was around." A sad expression crossed his face for a moment as he mumbled something under his breath that Frost couldn't quite hear. " _Gods I miss those days…_ "

Frost looked around awkwardly before Qrow cleared his throat and shook off the saddened look before returning his gaze to Frost, who eventually sighed in resolution and carefully removed the protective gear from his limbs before walking over and sitting at the edge of the unoccupied bed. He then turned to look at Qrow with an inquisitive look on his face before speaking, "Do you know who left those here at all?"

Qrow shook his head a few times before replying. "Not a clue. They were already there when I showed up a day ago and spoke to your friend when she was awake."

That last part caused Frost's eyebrows to raise in surprise. "A day ago? How long was I out for?"

"About two days following the incident out on the streets where you lit up the sky like a Christmas tree."

"Huh." Frost mumbled out as he looked down at his arm as he flexed his hands a few times. Now the tingling sensation in his arms made a little more sense the more he thought about it. "And what about Neo? Is she alright?" The white=haired boy looked over at his friend in concern while Qrow chuckled briefly once more.

"She's fine, just a little tired. She asked the same thing of you when I spoke to her the other day. Told her roughly the same thing, too." Qrow gave a pointed look at Frost as he continued to gaze at Neo's resting form. "Though I doubt that's what you're referring to, isn't it?"

"…How did you find out?" Frost asked slowly as he turned to face Qrow with a neutral look on his face.

"Blood tests done on the two of you after you were brought in to recover. Though there was a lot more going through her bloodstream, we found some in yours as well. Care to explain."

Frost sighed as his head slumped forward to look at the floor. "Back when we were being forced to work for Torchwick, they laced out food with some sort of drug. Torchwick thought it was some kind of suggestion that it implanted, but apparently it was something…worse." Frost shuddered slightly at the memories of the darker version of himself that he had confronted on a few separate occasions. "Somehow a drug got made that was able to infuse Grimm essence into a person's body and empower them. The problem was that it also somehow worked against the mind in a manner of bringing out a more savage side at times. I guess now that explains a few of my outbursts between now and then, but Neo had it way worse considering she was exposed to more of it than I was."

"It's more than just that." Qrow spoke from his corner, snapping Frost out of his downed mood as he looked up to watch the man as he spoke. "That drug was part of an experiment to see if people could somehow recover the remains of defeated Grimm and test it to see what it could do if applied to the human body. After several instances of test subjects dying due to the exposure the program was shut down and all traces of data were supposedly destroyed. That was nearly 5 years ago. Yet somehow, a few traces of this drug just happened to show up in a facility that Torchwick and his men are raiding for supplies and Dust? It's not a coincidence. Someone planted those vials."

Frost looked at Qrow with concern apparent on his face before opening his mouth to speak. "Where are you going with this?"

Qrow sighed briefly before getting up and strapping his large sword to his back, Frost's eyes widening slightly as he caught sight of the full size of the weapon, if even for a moment. "I was hoping to wait a while longer before springing this on the two of you, given recent events. But before the big attack was led on the city, Ozpin had told me about his notion that somewhere these tests were still being performed without government authorization. It's even possible they're a part of the same group that orchestrated the attack on the city a couple of days ago. He was hoping that given the fact that the two of you weren't as tightly affiliated with any schools that you could go and investigate the issue." Qrow paused a moment before adding, at Frost's concerned look, "With some more experienced Hunter's help, of course."

"And I'm assuming that's going to be you?" Frost asked after a moment of thought.

Qrow shook his head, however. "Ozpin may have originally intended to have me guide the two of you there, before everything happened. But now with him missing," Frost's eyes widened at this statement as Qrow continued, "I need to try and figure out what to do in his stead while the rest of us are busy doing damage control in their respective areas. So for now the two of you will have to travel to Haven on your own before joining up with a Hunter we know is stationed there. Word has been sent ahead about them expecting the two of you, but that's as much as we can do at this point."

"It'll have to do." Frost said with a hint of finality. However, a moment later his face lit up in thought as he turned to look at Neo. "Though I would appreciate it if you could do something for me."

Qrow gave the boy a confused look before replying. "What is it?"

"Have word sent ahead that it'll just be one person showing up to investigate." Frost turned to face Qrow with a steeled look in his eyes. "I'm not letting Neo get involved in anything having to do with this again. So tonight, while she's sleeping I'm going to pack up my things and leave before morning so that she can't trace my steps when I go." Frost's eyes returned to a sad look as Neo's form shifted slightly, as though in response to his statement.

Qrow gave Frost a bemused look as he turned to spare a glance at Neo as well before turning back to face Frost. "I think she would protest to that plan just a little bit, wouldn't you?"

"It doesn't matter." Frost said with a forced tone. "She's been through enough in regards to that stupid drug, and I'm not letting her get anywhere near it if I have a say."

"Well you don't."

Frost's eyes widened while Qrow's smirk grew wider as Neo's body turned to face Frost, tears streaming from her eyes as she gave Frost an icy glare. "You're not going anywhere without me, and I don't care what you have to say about that."

Frost reeled back from the tone that Neo had used while addressing him before hanging his head in shame. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything. I was awake before you, and Qrow asked me to just lie down and relax while we waited for you to wake up." Her gaze softened as a few hiccups escaped while the tears continued to fall. "Why, though? Why would you think that I w-wanted you to leave without m-me?"

"You heard why." Frost said with a cold tone as he clenched his hands into fists on his lap, ignoring the biting pain that surged for a moment as his muscles tightened in frustration. "You've dealt with this enough."

"And so that means you get to go off on your own and play Hero, while I sit here and fall apart after everything we've been through together?"

"Sometimes people shouldn't have to deal with stuff that isn't their fault."

Neo's eyes widened a moment in realization. "I already told you, I forgave you for what happened all of those months ago. Let it go."

"WELL MAYBE I DON'T DESERVE YOUR FORGIVENESS!" Frost yelled out in frustration. He then raised his head to look directly at Neo, even as a few tears escaped from his own eyes. "Before the night on the rooftops, I thought I had finally forgiven myself for what had happened since none of it was your choice. But when you told me that you had to go along with it for my sake while I was moping about in the school, I lost that. Everything that you had done for Cinder was to protect me, and I didn't deserve that. You should have gone to someone and blown the whistle on them the moment you had the chance."

"How dare you!" Neo screamed from across the room as she got up and strode over to Frost's bed before delivering a harsh slap to his face. "Do you really think that you mean so little that I would just throw you away like fodder if it meant I could help other people? I wish I was strong enough to do what was necessary to help others, but if that comes at the cost of those I care about, I refuse to make that decision!"

"But you could have stopped all of this by just saying something!"

"And so could you!" Neo screamed back in defiance as her shoulders started to shudder quickly. "But you c-couldn't, could y-you?" The tears fell anew even as Frost quickly got up to wrap his arms around her in a gentle hug. "You couldn't s-sacrifice my life just s-s-so others could b-be safe. So why would I-I do the opposite when I care about you so much, that it hurts."

"Stop, please." Frost begged as she held tightly to him amidst the hug.

"No. You need to hear this as much as I do." Neo forced out as she took a shuddering breath before continuing. "We may not have known each other before the incident with the village, and we may not be siblings by blood, but I still consider you a brother to me after everything we've been through. And I'm going to you do something stupid like go off along just to feed your Hero complex or something stupid like that."

Frost gave a sad laugh as he rested the side of his head atop Neo's due to their height difference. "Fine. You win. We'll do this together, just like we always did before." The two basked in the moment as they both came to terms with everything they had been through before the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed through the room.

"Not to interrupt the moment or anything, but now that you two are up to speed, I should really go visit my nieces while I've got the chance. Give yourselves a few days to get readjusted, then contact my via Scroll to get everything sorted out. Be prepared to leave as soon as possible once things are set in motion."

"You make it sound so official. We're not exactly Hunters, you know." Frost said with a laugh as he and Neo separated, though his hand stayed on her shoulder in reassurance. "I barely got into the year and Neo here hasn't even been accepted or anything. Besides, I bet there's a height requirement anyways." A swift jab to the side had Frost wheezing in pain with an agonized smile even as he kept his gaze forward and away from the smiling glare that Neo was giving him. "Also, ow."

"Given the current circumstances, I don't really care what the two of you are. Anyone that's willing to help is welcome to at this point in time. Either way, I'll be in touch."

* * *

A few days later, Frost and Neo stood atop a bluff overlooking the city of Vale as snow gently fell around them on the trees and cliffs. The two gave each other a measured look before nodding their heads solemnly and beginning their trek to Haven and the mysteries that lay ahead. In the distance, a crow passed overhead as it flew above the tree line, its destination unclear as it flew in solitude. Where it was headed, no one knows. For now, Frost and Neo trudged onwards, the only thing they had going for them being each other…

And all of the hope they could muster.

* * *

 **And that's it. This story is officially complete. Speaking from an outside point of view I am incredibly proud of myself for coming this far after past experiences with attempts at fanfics. Usually I would come up with an idea and just see where it took before running out of ideas and just quitting. This time I knew better and actually planned things out to gather a better idea of how things would go up to and including the ending.**

 **Yes, the tone at the end makes things sound like there will be a sequel, and I do intend on doing just that. But not right away. While the ideas may be floating about in my mind, I am also going to take a brief reprieve as I sort a few things out in my personal life and affairs as well.**

 **Either way, just a few things worth noting:**

 **Item #1: I had originally intended to turn this into a shipfic for my OC and Neo by the end. But eventually I just said screw it since it could very likely lessen the effect of numerous scenes throughout the story. That and very rarely do OC-shipfics actually sound anywhere near good depending on who is writing them. I have read some great examples of it being done well, but I don't see myself on that level, or see it as necessary for the plot of the story.**

 **Item #2: The adjustments to certain events in the show. I realize that a lot of folks can have serious issue with established events having other characters included or deviating from source material. This is however, a fanfic and my own take on things using an OC, and I will be delving into the realms of full-on AU in the sequel. I will be avoiding using any plots or things that RoosterTeeth happen to use in V4, as I want this to be my own thing. If things happen to coincide, then that is merely a coincidence.**

 **All in all, this has been quite the adventure, and to anyone that has read this or does read this in the future: Don't be afraid to speak your thoughts via PM or review. Any feedback helps me fix issues I may have in my writing, or in continuity that I missed throughout the story. Other than that, I wish you all the best.**

 **Peace out.**


	27. Sequel News

**So I figure that today is as good a day as any to announce the news, given that its my 23rd birthday today and this can doubly function as a birthday gift to myself.**

 **There are pans for a sequel for this story- and I do have the name sorted out.**

 **All I will say is that given it is separate from canon you will have to forgive me for any differences it has to RWBY4 when it comes out October 22 (for those that didn't already know the news). I do intend on getting chapters out sometime in the next couple of months as I have the ending and different parts of the story figured out. I still am working on fleshing out other elements of the story so that it doesn't feel lacking or anything of the sort.**

 **I will simply leave you all with a teaser of the title of the story and nothing more.**

 **So stay tuned for..."The Fragments of Remnant".**


	28. Sequel Now Released

**To those of you that may not be following myself directly but are following this story, the sequel "The Fragments of Remnant" is now up on this site. To access it please go to either the search bar for the site and look up the title specifically, or my uploaded content to find it. Hopefully you all enjoy my continued foray into RWBY writing.**

 **On another note, please thank our resident RWBY artist CSLucaris on Tumblr, Twitter, and DeviantArt for his beautiful work I commissioned for the cover for the sequel.**


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